Phase aberration measurement and correction in medical ultrasound

Abstract

We have constructed an apparatus to measurement time-of-flight profiles in living tissues and, in addition, an experimental phased array imaging system capable of correcting unknown phase errors induced by inhomogeneities in the acoustic velocities in tissue. We present the results of in vivo measurements of phase error profiles in abdominal, breast and transcranial imaging applications. We also demonstrate the success of the phase correction system in restoring the quality of images degraded by these errors.BACKGROUND

Real-Time Volumetric Ultrasound Imaging for Handheld Applications

“…The spine analog is a 3D-printed CAD model of the human L3-L5 vertebrae, as described in chapter 3, in a gelatin/graphite speckle-producing background (72). The porcine tissue layer has two functions -to provide an optical target with surface texture broadly similar to human skin, and also to mimic the speed-of-sound variations and other phenomena that cause ultrasound phase aberration in human tissue (96), (97).…”