Introduction

of
Ultrasound Physics
What is Ultrasound
What is Ultrasound?

Sound Waves with Frequency above the range of human hearing

May be used in medicine for

Diagnosis
Therapy

Siemens SONOLINE and Acuson product lines have been developed for
diagnostic ultrasound
Basic Principle of Operation: Echo

Hello
Hell Hello
o

Hello Hello
Ultrasound is Used in SONAR
Sonar (SOund Navigation And Ranging)
Ultrasound is Used in SONAR

Sonar (SOund Navigation And

Ranging)
Properties of Traveling Waves
Amplitude

Time or Position

Period - units of time Frequency - how many cycles

Wavelength - units of distance; go past per unit time (MHz)
Properties of Traveling Waves

Periodic motion causes pressure waves in surrounding physical

media. In the diagram, when the piston is shoved forward it
compresses the medium. The compression travels through the
medium. As the piston moves back and forth, it creates more
compressions that travel through the medium like cars down a
highway. The more quickly the piston moves
back and forth, the closer one compression is to the next one.

The sound we normally hear is from 20 to 20 000 cycles per second.

Ultrasound means sound that has a higher frequency than our normal
hearing. Ultrasound used for medical purposes is from one MHz (one
million cycles per second) to approximately 22 MHz.
Sound Wave - Size

Amplitude
Relates to the strength of the sound wave (magnitude)
Equal to the difference between the average value and the maximum
value

The amplitude is the maximum displacement from the undisturbed

position of the medium to the top of a crest.
Frequency

Cycles/second

Measured in Hertz
1 MHz = 1,000,000 Hz

Frequency ranges
Audible: 20-20,000 Hz
Ultrasound: above 20,000 Hz
Infrasound: below 20 Hz

Medical diagnostic ultrasound frequencies: 1-22 MHz

Propagation Speed

Speed sound moves through medium

Determined by:
Density
Stiffness

Not affected by sound source

Propagation Speed of Different Media

Velocity
Material
m/s
Air 330
Lung 650
Water (20C) 1480
Avg. soft tissue 1540
Liver 1550
Fat 1459
Muscle 1580
Blood 1575
Bone 4080
Acoustic Impedance

Is the resistance to sound traveling through a medium

Z=V
A medium has a high impedance when
It is very dense and/or
It has a fast propagation speed

Reflection is dependent on a change of impedance

 Sound Reflection

Incident (starting) intensity = reflected intensity + transmitted intensity

Medium 1 Medium 2

Incident

Transmitted

Reflected
Sound reflection

incident

Specular
Reflection
reflected

incident

Scattering

backscattered
 Attenuation

Decrease in energy as wave travels through a medium

Amount of attenuation determined by:
Frequency
Distance

Caused by:
Absorption
Scattering
Reflection
 Definitions
of image
resolution
Attenuation vs. Resolution

Transducer frequency is directly related to resolution

High frequency = high resolution
Low frequency = decreased resolution

High frequency increased attenuation decreased penetration with

increased resolution

Low frequency less attenuation better penetration with decreased

resolution
14 MHz Image
4 MHz Image
Image Quality

Resolution
Spatial
Temporal
Contrast
Ultrasound Resolution

Spatial resolution = accurate display of point-to-point resolution

in 3 dimensions

It is defined as the shortest distance in mm between 2 discrete

objects at which the objects can be differentiated.
Spatial Resolution

Elevation

Axial
(Range)
Axial Resolution

Pulse width < d, both targets resolved

Pulse width > d, both targets seen as one

Ability to distinguish closely spaced point targets

Determined by pulse length
 Lateral Resolution

Ability to distinguish closely spaced point targets in the azimuthal direction

Determined by beam width.
Elevation Resolution

lateral
elevation
Natural focus:

Ability to distinguish closely spaced point targets in the elevation

direction
Determined by slice thickness
Natural focus w/o active control:
 Ultrasound Resolution

Spatial resolution = accurate display of point-to-point resolution in

3 dimensions

Contrast resolution = accurate display of texture changes

Ability to readily distinguish structures

of similar but different scattering properties.
In other words,
Ability to differentiate subtle tissue
differences.
Contrast Resolution

Ability to distinguish subtle tissue contrast differences

Doppler

Doppler: Real Time Motion Detection.

Doppler Effect

Change in reflected frequency caused by the motion of blood cells

or tissue
Doppler Principles

The Doppler Effect

A shift in frequency caused by the relative movement of
either the sound wave source, the sound wave reflector
or the sound wave receiver
The transducer is the sound wave source and receiver
The Red Blood Cells are the sound wave reflectors
RBCs moving toward the transducer compress
(increase) the frequency
RBCs moving away from the transducer expand
(decrease) the frequency
For any given transmitted
ultrasound frequency, the
returned frequency will be
higher after encountering red
blood cells moving toward the
transducer and lower after
encountering red cells moving
away from the transducer.
 Doppler Principles: Doppler Shift

2f0vcos fdc
fd = v =
c 2f0cos

fd = Doppler shifted frequency

fo = transducer frequency
v = blood velocity
= angle of insonification
c = sound velocity in tissue (1540 m/s)
Doppler Principles

Angle to Flow
Best Doppler angle is parallel to flow and closest to 0
Angle is effected by
patient position
transducer position

This B/C-mode image represents

the tortuous flow of a digital artery,
with flow towards and away from
the transducer shown as red and
blue. No flow is shown in the center
because flow in that part of the
vessel is at 90 degrees to the
ultrasound beam and no Doppler
shift is observed
Doppler Principles

Effect of the Doppler angle in the sonogram. (A) higher-frequency shift Doppler
signal is obtained if the beam is aligned more to the direction of flow. In the
diagram, beam (A) is more aligned than (B) and produces higher-frequency shift
Doppler signals. The beam/flow angle at (C) is almost 90 and there is a very poor
Doppler signal. The flow at (D) is away from the beam and there is a negative
signal.
Doppler Principles
Color Doppler
Imaging Technique
Displays mean velocity and
variance within an area of the
image
Spectral Doppler
Graphic Technique
Displays peak, mean and range
of velocities at a single point
along the Doppler beam (PW) or
along the entire beam (CW)
Pulse (PW) Doppler

One element or group of elements transmit and

receive. The elements transmit and the system waits to
receive returning echoes. The time delay between
transmit and receive relates directly to the depth of the
targeted reflectors. The shift in the frequency of the
reflected echoes is converted to velocity and displayed
as a strip. Limitation not suitable for high jet velocities
Continuous Wave (CW) Doppler

One element or a group of elements transmits continuously

and another set of elements continuously receive.
Velocities from all points along the line are detected.
It is used to measure high flow velocities as in Cardiology.
Limited by the fact that it cannot be used to measure depth
of the detected velocities from a specific location.
 Aliasing

In this leg exam, the Doppler beam is correctly Doppler gain is reduced and the PRF (scale)
steered in line with the vessel, but the Doppler gain increased.
is too high, resulting in a saturated spectrum and
excessive background noise. Also, the PRF (scale)
is too low, causing the spectrum to alias; the
spectral peaks are clipped and wrap around to the
opposite end of the spectrum.
Color Doppler Imaging

In color Doppler mode blood flow in real time is displayed as a

color overlay over the 2D image.
Multiple range gates are taken along multiple color lines to
compute the frequency shift of blood flow. This is converted into
velocity information and assigned color to represent a certain
velocity and direction. Limitation it is only Qualitative.

Multiple
Gates
Color Doppler

CDV--- Color Doppler Velocity

CDE--- Color Doppler Energy. ( Power Mode)

DTI--- Doppler Tissue Imaging

Color Doppler Velocity

The Color Doppler Bar

Color represents mean velocity at the

sample area
Toward the transducer is one color (i.e., red)
Away from the transducer is another (i.e.,
blue)
Shade indicates the velocity of blood flow
Deep shades indicate low velocities
Lighter shades or a change in color indicate
higher velocities
Baseline indicator or 0 velocity
Velocity scale indicators appear at each end
CDV Vs PW .

Color Doppler Spectral Doppler

Imaging Technique
Displays mean velocity and
variance within an area of the
image
Graphic Technique
Displays peak, mean and range
of velocities at a single point
along the Doppler beam (PW) or
along the entire beam (CW)

+ Flow

0 Flow
- Flow
Color Doppler Velocity
Color Doppler Energy (CDE)

Utilizes the amplitude/energy

component
Has virtually no angle dependence
Has no aliasing
Does not display velocity
Does not display direction of flow
Power Doppler / Directional power

CDE CDV
Color Doppler Energy

CDE Sensitivity-Amplitude
Amplitude of noise signals is much lower than blood
echo amplitude (excellent signal-to-noise ratio)
Therefore, noise amplitude does not corrupt blood
echo amplitude
CDE can display flow virtually to the noise floor
Neonatal Brain Circulation CDE
Power Mode (CDE)

This Power mode/ Color Doppler Energy image clearly

indicates a severe stenosis that restricts normal
arterial flow to a trickle.
DTI Doppler Tissue Imaging

Reflects low velocity high amplitude Doppler signals

Doppler shift information from myocardium instead of flow
Transducers
What is a transducer?

Any device which converts one form of energy into

another form.
Transducers

Key tool used by sonologist to see into the

body

The transducer functions at the interface

between the electronics and the body
tissues
Ultrasound Transducer

Crystal is diced into small elements

Each element is connected as an individual
transducer
Group of elements form an active aperture
Role of Transducer

Transducer sends ultrasound pulses

Between pulses transducer receives echoes
System converts echoes to an image
Types of Transducers

Mechanical
Sector

Electronic
Linear Arrays
Curved Array (Curved Linear Array)
Phased Array
Mechanical Sector

One Or More Crystals. In Housing

Mechanically Steered
Arc-Shaped Image
Small Transducer Face
Application which require wide field of view like Endocavity
Linear Array

Multiple Transducer Elements In Line

Elements Sequentially Pulsed
Can Be Electronically Focused
Generally Rectangular Shaped Image
Applications Small parts , Vascular
Phased Arrays (vector/sector)

Multiple Elements Produce Wedge Shaped Field Of View (FOV)

Electronic Delay Techniques Used To Focus And Steer Beam
Small Footprint
Sector/Vector FOV
Color / Doppler
Echocardiography Choice
Intercostal Imaging
Curved Arrays

Elements arranged in an arc

Multiple Elements Pulsed Sequentially
Offer Wider Field Of View
Easier Access In Specific Exams
Abdomen
Pelvis
Obstetrics
Endocavity Transducers

Endorectal
Rectal And Prostate Evaluation
Endovaginal
High Frequency Transducers
Defined Evaluation Of Pelvic Structures
Transesophageal multiplane Transducer

Visualization of cardiac structures which are difficult to

visualize Transthoracically such as Atrial thrombus, shunts,
vegetations
Intracardiac Transducer

Intra cardiac applications such as visualization of ASD, VSD

closure. Electrophysiology Visualization.
BASIC Instrumentation.
 Phased array Technology
Focusing
With phased array, you can
focus the beam where you want,
within the near-field of the overall
array aperture. When focusing
close to the surface, the focal
point can become very small and
the depth-of-field can be pretty
short.
Steering
You can also steer the
beam in a wide range of
angles, within the
capability of the array
geometry and electro-
acoustic performance. A
typical range will be +/- 25
degrees for contact
probe, and 30 to 75
degrees for shear wave.
Moving
Of course, you can operate the
array a few elements at a time,
therefore moving the index
point. Fewer elements mean
smaller aperture, wider beam and
extended depth-of-field. This is
useful for performing electronic B-
scanning.
Linear Array
Curved (convex) array