First imaging results with the new generation of the KIT 3D ultrasound tomography device

Abstract

Ultrasound Tomography (USCT) is an emerging technology for early breast cancer detection. At Karlsruhe Institute of Technology we recently realized a new generation of full 3D USCT device with a pseudo-randomly sampled hemispherical aperture. In this paper we summarize first imaging results with phantoms and first volunteer images. Using a gelatin phantom with PVC inclusions we evaluated transmission imaging, which showed a deviation from the ground truth of less than 5 m/s in the sound speed and 0.2 dB/cm in the attenuation for the phantom body and less than 15 m/s and 0.2 dB/cm for an inclusion with a diameter of 2.2 cm. Geometric errors are in average in the range of 0.2 cm. For reflectivity imaging we showed that the point spread function is nearly isotropic and with an average of 0.26 mm close to the theoretical predictions for the current system. While the system is still in final commissioning, the results of the phantom and volunteer imaging are very promising: after further calibration and deeper analysis with phantoms we aim at starting a clinical study.