Real-time cylindrical curvilinear 3-D ultrasound imaging.

In patients who are obese or exhibit signs of pulmonary disease, standard transthoracic scanning may yield poor quality cardiac images. For these conditions, two-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is established as an essential diagnostic tool. Current techniques in transesophageal scanning, though, are limited by incomplete visualization of cardiac structures in close proximity to the transducer. Thus, we propose a 2D curvilinear array for 3D transesophageal echocardiography in order to widen the field of view and increase visualization close to the transducer face. In this project, a 440 channel 5 MHz two-dimensional array with a 12.6 mm aperture diameter on a flexible interconnect circuit has been molded to a 4 mm radius of curvature. A 75% element yield was achieved during fabrication and an average -6dB bandwidth of 30% was observed in pulse-echo tests. Using this transducer in conjunction with modifications to the beam former delay software and scan converter display software of the our 3D scanner, we obtained cylindrical real-time curvilinear volumetric scans of tissue phantoms, including a field of view of greater than 120 degrees in the curved, azimuth direction and 65 degrees phased array sector scans in the elevation direction. These images were achieved using a stepped subaperture across the cylindrical curvilinear direction of the transducer face and phased array sector scanning in the noncurved plane. In addition, real-time volume rendered images of a tissue mimicking phantom with holes ranging from 1 cm to less than 4 mm have been obtained. 3D color flow Doppler results have also been acquired. This configuration can theoretically achieve volumes displaying 180 degrees by 120 degrees. The transducer is also capable of obtaining images through a curvilinear stepped subaperture in azimuth in conjunction with a rectilinear stepped subaperture in elevation, further increasing the field of view close to the transducer face. Future work includes development of an array for adapting these modifications to a 6 mm diameter endoscope probe.