Improved real time volumetric ultrasonic imaging system
A real time volumetric ultrasonic imaging system has been improved through the use of parallel processing in two dimensions. The imaging system uses pulse-echo phased array principles to steer a two-dimensional transducer array in a pyramidal scan format. The transducer array consists of 96 transmit elements and 32 receive elements, and operates a center frequency of 2.5 MHz. Parallel processing allows reception of 16 unique view directions distributed over a small pyramidal volume during receive. Information from the 16 directions is obtained simultaneously after the transmission of an ultrasonic pulse. Images consisting of 4096 lines are produced at a rate of over 15 frames/second. The images are analogous to those produced by an optical camera or the human eye and supply more information than conventional sonograms. Echo data for the scanned volume is presented as projection images with depth perspective, stereoscopic pairs, multiple tomographic images, or C-scans. Potential medical applications include improved anatomic visualization, tumor localization, and better assessment of cardiac function.
