11.

11 Ultrasound Imaging
General Application
 Check the development of baby’s development in the
mother’s womb
 Echo sounding to detect sea bed and fishes
 In general, higher frequency waves have shorter wav
elength, and can be used to detect smaller features
 However, at higher frequency, more energy will be a
bsorbed by the body, thus a more intense beam is us
ed
 Ultrasound is a sound wave with a frequency above 2
0 kHz. In medicine it usually has a range of 2 - 10
MHz
Producing ultrasound
 Principles of the generation and detection of ul
trasonic waves using piezo-electric transducers:
 Potential difference is applied across the piezo-elec
tric transducer (quartz crystal) causing it to change
shape (distort)
 Applying alternating p.d. causes oscillations/vibrati
ons
 When applied frequency is natural frequency, crystal
resonates
 Natural frequency of crystal is in the ultrasound ran
ge (hence usage of ultrasound waves), alternating p.d
. produced across the crystal
Principles behind the use of Ultrasound to obtain diagno
stic information about internal structures:

 Pulse of ultrasound produced by quartz crystal / pie

zo-electric crystal
 Gel/coupling medium on the skin to reduce reflection
at skin
 Reflected from the boundaries between media
 Reflected pulse/wave detected by ultrasound transmit
ter
 Reflected wave processed and displayed
 Intensity of reflected pulse/wave gives information
about boundary
 Time delay gives information about the depth of boun
dary
How ultrasound enters the body
 Figure 3
Impedance Matching

 The amount reflected is important as it enables an image to be create

d depending on the reflection

There is a problem in medicine

Air has a Z value of 400 kg/m^2s and skin has one of 1.7 x 10^6 kg/m^
2s this means that 99.9% of the ultrasound is reflected. 

This would make any results completely useless. 

By putting gel on the skin and transducer this removes the air - fles
h boundary and so the majority of the ultrasound enters the patient

The gel has a similar Z value to flesh, this means that very little u
ltrasound is reflected before entering the patient giving useful resu
lts.
A-scans and B-scans

 B-scans are multiple A-scans put toge

ther to create a 2D image. This is wh
at creates uterus images
A-scans and B-scans

 B-scans are multiple A-scans put toge

ther to create a 2D image. This is wh
at creates uterus images
Scan A
 Also Refer to Worked Example for Calculation
 Ultrasound relies on the reflection of ultra
sound at the boundaries between different ti
ssues, hence the thickness of an organ is gi
ven by:
Scan B
 Each reflected pulse is analysed to determi
ne the depth of the reflecting surface (fro
m the time of echo) and the nature of the s
urface (amplitude of the reflected wave)
 A two dimension image is then built up on a
screen by positioning dots to represent the
position of the reflecting surfaces and wit
h brightness determined by intensity of the
reflection, brighter dots indicating more r
eflected ultrasound.