Ultrasound

Ultrasound Physics
x The term ultrasound refers to acoustical waves above the range of human hearing
(frequencies higher than 20 kHz).
x Humans can hear only a limited range of frequencies (Audible spectrum).
x The frequency range of audible sound is approximately 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
x Frequencies lower than 20 Hz are Infrasound and frequencies higher than 20 kHz are
called Ultrasound
x Diagnostic ultrasound equipments used ultrasound frequencies in the range of
approximately 1 MHz to 15 MHz/2MHZ-16MHZ/but , 2-10MHZ is most important
x Sound is a mechanical, longitudinal wave that travels in a straight line
• Sound requires a medium through which to travel
• Ultrasound is a mechanical, longitudinal wave with a frequency exceeding the upper limit
of human hearing, which is 20,000 Hz or 20 kHz.
• Medical Ultrasound 2MHz to 16MHz
• frequency - expressed in Hertz (Hz)
• Ultrasound imaging also sonograghy involves exposing parts of the body to high
frequency sound wave to produce picture of the inside of the body /imaging machine

Amp
litud
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• Ultrasound is a medical imaging technique that uses high frequency sound wave and
their echoes
In ultrasound the following events happen
1. the ultrasound machine transmits high frequency sound pulse in to your body using
probe
2. The sound wave travel in to your body and hit a boundary b/n tissue (soft tissue
and bone )
3. Some of the sound waves get reflected back to the probe ,some travel further until
they reach another boundary and gat reflected
4. The reflected wave are picked up by the probe and relayed to the machine
5. The machine calculate the distance from the probe to the tissue/organ using the
speed of sound tissue (1540m/s) and the time of the echoes return
6. The machine display the distance and intensities of the echoes on the screen
forming 2D image
ULTRASOUND – How is it produced?
Produced by passing an electrical current through a piezoelectric (material that expands and
contracts with current) crystal

• Transducer produces ultrasound pulses

• These elements convert electrical energy into a mechanical ultrasound wave

x Reflected echoes return to the scan head which converts the ultrasound wave into an
electrical signal

• Transducer are both transmitter and receivers of ultrasound

Frequency vs. Resolution
• The frequency also affects the quality of the ultrasound image
 The higher frequency ,the better resolution
 The lower frequency ,the less resolution
• The higher the applied ultrasound frequency to any given material the lower the
penetration depth due to the absorption of sound energy
• Wave length=sound velocity(c) /ultrasound frequency(f)
• The higher the applied ultrasound frequency the better detection of small objects
A 12 MHz transducer has very good resolution, but cannot penetrate very deep into the body
• A 3 MHz transducer can penetrate deep into the body, but the resolution is not as good as
the 12 MHz

Low Frequency 3 MHz High Frequency 12 MHz

 Piezoelectric effect
• If we applied voltage in pulses the transducer will expand and contract
• By applying this voltage in very quick pulse we can vibrate the transducer and
produce the ultrasound wave
• If any external force is applied to the transducer a voltage is generated This
phenomena is called piezo-electric effect
Image Formation
Electrical signal produces ‘dots’ on the screen
• Brightness of the dots is proportional to the strength of the returning echoes
• Location of the dots is determined by travel time. The velocity in tissue is assumed
constant at 1540m/sec
Distance = velocity/ Time

Interactions of Ultrasound with Tissue

Acoustic impedance (AI) is dependent on the density of the material in which sound is
propagated
• Acoustic impedance(Z)=density *velocity
- the greater the impedance the denser the material.
Reflections comes from the interface of different AI’s
• greater ' of the AI = more signal reflected
• works both ways (send and receive directions)
• At the border of d/t structure some of the transmitted wave are reflected back according
to the Acoustic impedance d/c two structures
• The average impedance is about 1.6
• Greater the AI, greater the returned signal
Largest difference is solid-gas interface
• we don’t like gas or air
• we don’t like bone for the same reason
Material acoustic impedance
Air 0.00043
Blood 1.62
Brain 1.6
Fat 1.38
soft tissue 1.6
Kidney 1.62
Sound is attenuated as it goes deeper into the body
• Reflection
• Refraction
• Transmission
• Attenuation
Reflection
• The ultrasound reflects off tissue and returns to the transducer, the amount of
reflection depends on differences in acoustic impedance
• The ultrasound image is formed from reflected echoes

Transduucer
Refraction
Transmission
– Some of the ultrasound waves continue deeper into the body
– These waves will reflect from deeper tissue structures

Attenuation
– Defined - the deeper the wave travels in the body, the weaker it becomes -3 processes:
reflection, absorption, refraction
– Air (lung)> bone > muscle > soft tissue >blood

Reflected Echo’s
Strong Reflections = White dots

Weaker Reflections = Grey dots

• No Reflections = Black dots

What determines how far ultrasound waves can travel?
• The FREQUENCY of the transducer
– The HIGHER the frequency, the LESS it can penetrate
– The LOWER the frequency, the DEEPER it can penetrate

Ultrasound beam pattern

• If there no acoustic lens on the transducer surface, the ultrasound beam is transmitted in a
straight line in the near field then begins divert from a certain point in the far field as
shown above. This is called an unfocused beam
• If there an acoustic lens on the transducer surface the ultrasound beam will be focused
and convert as a certain point called the focal point
• We can say generally the focused beam can obtain a clearer image.
Resolution
They are two major parameters, which influence the diagnostic image quality these are axial
and lateral resolution
Resolution can be defined as the ability of the equipment to distinguish two separate objects
Axial Resolution
Axial resolutions describe resolution in the axial direction Axial resolution is determined by
the U.S. wave length and frequency
If the U.S. beam use a short wave length we can distinguish two separate objects which are
based closed together in line in axial direction. This is because wave length of the U.S. beam is
shorter than the distance
If the U.S beam uses a longer wave length , we cannot distinguish two separate objects, this is
because the wave length is longer than the distance between the two objects Because a higher
frequency main a short wave length, we can say generally: that the higher the U. S. frequency,
the higher the axial resolution
Lateral Resolution
Lateral resolution describes resolution in the lateral direction If the U.S. beam is wide, the
displayed object size may be bigger than the actual object size so lateral resolution is poor.
If the U.S. beam is narrow the displayed object size will be a closer to the actual size so lateral
resolution is better. Generally speaking: the narrow the U.S. beam, the higher the lateral
resolution in general, the higher the U.S frequency the higher the resolution and the lower the
penetration.
 The lower the U.S frequency the lower the resolution but the higher the penetration. To
determine a wide range of diagnostic requirements we need a wide range of U.S. frequencies that
is why there is a wide selection of probe frequency for studies of different organs
Basic components of ultrasound
1. Display /screen
2. User interface/probe connection
3. Transducer
4. Image processing /cpu
5. Power supply
6. Printer
Impedance Matching / Gel
When ultrasound passes through two very different materials the majority of it is reflected.
This happens between air and the body, meaning that most ultrasound waves never enter
the body. To prevent this large difference in impedance a coupling medium (gel) is used
between the air and the skin. The need to match up similar impedances to ensure the waves
pass through the body is known as impedance matching

Display mode of ultrasound/scan

• A-SCAN /MODE/ AMPLITUDE SCAN

 no photo image information

 Only give one dimensional information
 Used to measure distance
• Pulses of ultrasound sent into the body, reflected ultrasound is detected and appear
as vertical spikes on a screen.
• The horizontal positions of the ‘spikes’ indicate the time it took for the wave to be
reflected.
B-mode /brightness mode
• An array of transducers is used and the ultrasound beam is spread out across the body.
• Returning waves are detected and appear as spots of varying brightness.
• These spots of brightness are used to build up a picture.
• Strong reflection will show brighter dots
• Week reflection cause of less brighter dots

• Two dimensional display

M-mode /motion mode

• Is the scrolling display allowing the operator to view and recording organ motion
• This display mode is useful for studying moving target
• movement of body structure are displayed while the transducer is keep in fixed
position, but B&M mode is common

NOTE
• A Mode presents reflected ultrasound energy on a single line display. The strength
of the reflected energy at any particular depth is visualized as the amplitude of the
waveform.
• B Mode converts A Mode information into a two dimensional grayscale display.
• C Mode is a color representation of blood flow velocity and direction.
• D Mode is a spectral representation of blood flow velocity and direction.
• P Mode is used to visualize very low blood flows in color. Unlike C Mode, this mode
does not show the operator flow direction.
• Triplex is the simultaneous operation of B Mode, C Mode and D Mode.
• M Mode is a scrolling display allowing the operator to view and record organ
motion
 Transducer
• In the case of ultrasound two transducer function are recognized:
– conversion of ac electric oscillation into acoustic vibration, and
– Conversion of acoustic vibrations into ac oscillations of the same frequency.
– These two functions are the transmitter and receiver transducers.
 • This is a simplistic view of a transducer but it contains all the basic elements.
– The cable provides the electrical connection.
– The strain relief supports the very fine coaxial cables in the cable.
– The case protects the internal crystal connections.
– The damping material isolates the crystal element from mechanical noise and
provides mechanical support.
– The piezoelectric element converts electrical impulses to mechanical motion
and back.
– The filler or lens provides mechanical isolation for the crystal element,
impedance matching and it’s shape provides focus

Types of transducer
1. Linear Array: frequency range app. from 5 MHz to 13 MHz
• Length from 30 to 60 cm
• Applications: (Small Parts), (Orthopedics, Breast)
2. Convex array: frequency range app. from 3.5 MHz to 9 MHz
• Length from 20 to 60 cm
• Applications: Abdomen, GYN, OB, Urology
3. Micro-convex:
Application: Pediatrics
4. Phased array: frequency range app. from 2 MHz to 8 MHz
• angle from 60 to 90 cm
• Applications: cardiology (heart)

THE OTHER IS READING ASS. 1

Doppler effect
• It is the change in frequency for an observer moving relative to the source of the
wave
• Used to measure blood flow
• helping us to identify blood vessels
• the Doppler effect causes the frequency of waves reflected from a moving object to
be different from the frequency of the wave sent out of the probe
• When the wave is bounced back from a stationary object such as a nerve, both the
transmitted and the returned waves have the same frequency.
• Ultrasound wave reaches the moving red blood cell and bounces back. However, this
time if you measured the frequency of the returned wave, it will not be the same as
the frequency of the transmitted wave. The wave that bounces off an object moving
towards the probe will have a higher frequency than the frequency of the wave
transmitted from the probe. This is because the moving object “squashes” the waves
as it moves towards the probe
Types of US Doppler Technique
1. Pulsed-wave Doppler (PW Doppler)
2. Continuous-wave Doppler (CW Doppler)
3. Color Flow Imaging (CIF)

Advantages compared with other techniques

1. Ultrasound examinations are non-invasive i.e. they do not require the body to be
opened up or anything to be inserted into the body. This is a major advantage
compared to fibre-optic endoscopy, for example, which may involve much more
patient discomfort as the probe is inserted.
2. Ultrasound methods are relatively inexpensive, quick and convenient, compared to
techniques such as X-rays or MRI scans. The equipment can be made portable, and
the images can be stored electronically.
 3. No harmful effects have been detected, at the intensity levels used for examinations
and imaging. This contrasts with methods based on X-rays or on radioactive
isotopes, which have known risks associated with them, and ultrasound methods
are preferred whenever possible. This is particularly relevant to examination of
expectant mothers.
4. Ultrasound is particularly suited to imaging soft tissues such as the eye, heart and
other internal organs, and examining blood vessels.

Disadvantages of ultrasound compared with other techniques

• 1. The major disadvantage is that the resolution of images is often limited. This is
being overcome as time passes, but there are still many situations where X-rays
produce a much higher resolution.
• 2. Ultrasound is reflected very strongly on passing from tissue to gas, or vice versa.
This means that ultrasound cannot be used for examinations of areas of the body
containing gas, such as the lung and the digestive system.
• 3. Ultrasound also does not pass well through bone, so that the method is of limited
use in diagnosing fractures. It is possible to obtain quite good ultrasound scans of
the brain, but much greater detail is obtained by an MRI scan.