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Background: Brief screening instruments for co-morbid personality disorders could potentially have great value in substance abuse treatment settings.

A method for synthetic aperture tissue harmonic imaging is investigated. It combines synthetic aperture sequential beamforming (SASB) with tissue harmonic imaging (THI) to produce an increased and more uniform spatial resolution and improved side lobe reduction compared to conventional B-mode imaging. Synthetic aperture sequential beamforming tissue harmonic imaging (SASB-THI) was implemented on a commercially available BK 2202 Pro Focus UltraView ultrasound system and compared to dynamic receive focused tissue harmonic imaging (DRF-THI) in clinical scans. The scan sequence that was implemented on the UltraView system acquires both SASB-THI and DRF-THI simultaneously. Twenty-four simultaneously acquired video sequences of in-vivo abdominal SASB-THI and DRF-THI scans on 3 volunteers of 4 different sections of liver and kidney tissues were created. Videos of the in-vivo scans were presented in double blinded studies to two radiologists for image quality performance scoring. Limitations to the systems transmit stage prevented user defined transmit apodization to be applied. Field II simulations showed that side lobes in SASB could be improved by using Hanning transmit apodization. Results from the image quality study show, that in the current configuration on the UltraView system, where no transmit apodization was applied, SASB-THI and DRF-THI produced equally good images. It is expected that given the use of transmit apodization, SASB-THI could be further improved.

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Synthetic aperture sequential beamforming (SASB) and tissue harmonic imaging (THI) are combined to improve the image quality of medical ultrasound imaging. The technique is evaluated in a comparative study against dynamic receive focusing (DRF). The objective is to investigate if SASB combined with THI improves the image quality compared to DRF-THI. The major benefit of SASB is a reduced bandwidth between the probe and processing unit. A BK Medical 2202 Ultraview ultrasound scanner was used to acquire beamformed RF data for offline evaluation. The acquisition was made interleaved between methods, and data were recorded with and without pulse inversion for tissue harmonic imaging. Data were acquired using a Sound Technology 192 element convex array transducer from both a wire phantom and a tissue mimicking phantom to investigate spatial resolution and penetration. In vivo scans were also performed for a visual comparison. The spatial resolution for SASB-THI is on average 19% better than DRI-THI, and the investigation of penetration showed equally good signal-to-noise ratio. In vivo B-mode scans were made and compared. The comparison showed that SASB-THI reduces the artifact and noise interference and improves image contrast and spatial resolution.

This paper presents an imaging technique for synthetic aperture (SAI) tissue harmonic imaging (THI) on a commercial ultrasound system. Synthetic aperture sequential beamforming (SASB) is combined with a pulse inversion (PI) technique on a commercial BK 2202 UltraView system. An interleaved scan sequence that performs dynamic receive focused (DRF) imaging and SASB, both using PI, is implemented. From each acquisition four images can be created: DRF image, SASB image, tissue harmonic DRF image (DRF-THI), and tissue harmonic SASB image (SASB-THI). For SASB imaging, a fixed transmit and receive focus at 80 mm and an F# of 3 is applied. For DRF imaging, default scanner settings are used, which are a focus at 85 mm and F# of 5.7 in transmit and a dynamic receive aperture with an F# of 0.8. In all cases a 2.14 MHz one-and-ahalf cycle excitation transmit waveform is used. A BK 8820e 192 element convex array transducer is used to conduct scans of wire phantoms. The-6 dB and-20 dB lateral resolution is measured for each wire in the phantom. Results show that the-6 dB lateral resolution for SASB-THI is as good as for DRF-THI except at the point of the virtual source. SASB-THI even shows 7% reduction in-6 dB lateral resolution for the deepest wire at 100 mm. The-20 dB resolution for SASB-THI at [25, 50, 75, 100] mm was reduced by [5, 0-34, 11] % compared to DRF-THI, which shows, that except for the point of the virtual source, the lateral resolution was improved by SASB-THI. A successful implementation of SASB-THI was achieved on a commercial system, which can be used for future pre-clinical trials.

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Abstract-The pulse inversion (PI) technique can be utilized to separate and enhance harmonic components of a waveform for tissue harmonic imaging. While most ultrasound systems can perform pulse inversion, only few image the 3rd harmonic component. PI pulse subtraction can isolate and enhance the 3rd harmonic component for imaging on any ultrasound system capable of PI. PI was used to perform 3rd harmonic Bmode scans of a water-filled wire phantom on an experimental ultrasound system. The 3rd harmonic scans were compared to fundamental and 2nd harmonic scans on the same system. The 3rd harmonic image showed a 46% improvement in the lateral FWHM resolution compared to fundamental B-mode imaging at 75 mm depth and a 28% improvement compared to 2nd harmonic B-mode imaging. The axial FWHM resolution was improved by 35% and 30% for 3rd harmonic imaging compared to fundamental and 2nd harmonic imaging respectively. The improvements in spatial resolution and the fact that PI can isolate the 3rd harmonic suggest that it is advantageous to implement 3rd harmonic imaging on ultrasound systems capable of PI.