Weakening Pin Bone Attachment in Fish Fillets Using High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound.

High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) can be used for the localized heating of biological tissue through the conversion of sound waves into heat. Although originally developed for human medicine, HIFU may also be used to weaken the attachment of pin bones in fish fillets to enable easier removal of such bones. This was shown in the present study, where a series of experiments were performed on HIFU phantoms and fillets of cod and salmon. In thin objects such as fish fillets, the heat is mainly dissipated at the surfaces. However, bones inside the fillet absorb ultrasound energy more efficiently than the surrounding tissue, resulting in a "self-focusing" heating of the bones. Salmon skin was found to effectively block the ultrasound, resulting in a significantly lower heating effect in fillets with skin. Cod skin partly blocked the ultrasound, but only to a small degree, enabling HIFU treatment through the skin. The treatment of fillets to reduce the pin bone attachment yielded an average reduction in the required pulling force by 50% in cod fillets with skin, with little muscle denaturation, and 72% in skinned fillets, with significant muscle denaturation. Salmon fillets were treated from the muscle side of the fillet to circumvent the need for penetration through skin. The treatment resulted in a 30% reduction in the peak pulling force and 10% reduction in the total pulling work, with a slight denaturation of the fillet surface.

Synthetic aperture imaging for multilayer cylindrical object using an exterior rotating transducer.

The synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT) with significant improvements in lateral resolution has been adapted for ultrasound imaging of multilayer objects. To apply SAFT to imaging of cylindrical objects such as solid axles or pipes with small diameter, exterior cylindrical scan is much preferred. In this paper, a frequency-domain algorithm is proposed for such cylindrical scan performed with an exterior rotating transducer. The algorithm is derived from Fourier-domain solutions to the waveequation in cylindrical coordinates, and then extended to the multilayer case. A simulation model for multilayer structure is established, and the algorithm is demonstrated for both simulated and experimental data. Compared with the raw images, the reconstructed images with proposed algorithm attain better lateral resolution for multilayer objects. It is shown that the attainable angular resolution for each layer is approximately consistent with that achieved in the single-layer case, as long as the transmission factors are approximately uniform within the divergence angle of the transducer. The performance of proposed algorithm is verified with experimental C-scan image and demonstrates that it is capable of improving the lateral resolution in both scanning directions.

Synthetic aperture focusing of outwardly directed cylindrical ultrasound scans.

The synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT) has been shown to significantly improve the lateral resolution of monostatic imaging systems. To apply SAFT to interior imaging of cylindrical structures such as pipes or blood vessels, algorithms adapted to cylindrical measurement surfaces are needed. In this paper, we present a new algorithm for SAFT applied to such cylindrical scans. The derivation of the algorithm is based directly on the Fourier domain solutions to the wave equation in cylindrical coordinates, and in this sense, the algorithm is exact. Compared with existing methods, the proposed algorithm yields lower side lobes and better resolution for wide-beam transducers. The attainable angular resolution is shown to depend on the size of the transducer and the scanning radius R. For a flat, circular transducer of diameter D, the angular resolution is approximately D/(2R). It is also shown that using an angular step size of D/(4R) will keep grating lobes at least 40 dB below the main lobe, and we therefore recommend D/(4R) as a suitable step size for practical applications.

Synthetic aperture focusing of ultrasonic data from multilayered media using an omega-k algorithm.

The synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT) is used to create focused images from ultrasound scans. SAFT has traditionally been applied only for imaging in a single medium, but the recently introduced phase shift migration (PSM) algorithm has expanded the use of SAFT to multilayer structures. In this article we present a similar focusing algorithm called multi-layer omega-k (MULOK), which combines PSM and the ω-k algorithm to perform multilayer imaging more efficiently. The asymptotic complexity is shown to be lower for MULOK than for PSM, and this is confirmed by comparing execution times for implementations of both algorithms. To facilitate the complexity analysis, a detailed description of algorithm implementation is included, which also serves as a guide for readers interested in practical implementation. Using data from an experiment with a multilayered structure, we show that there is essentially no difference in image quality between the two algorithms.