High resolution biomedical imaging using ultrasonic metamaterials

使用超声波超材料的高分辨率生物医学成像

基本信息

批准号：
EP/N034163/1
负责人：
David Hutchins
金额：
$ 49.84万
依托单位：
University of Warwick
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2016
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2016 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FN034163%2F1
关键词：
resolution biomedical imaging using ultrasonic

项目摘要

Ultrasound biomedical imaging is used routinely for the diagnosis of many diseases. It has the ability show detailed structures of soft tissues, and has the advantage over other imaging methods, such as CT or MRI imaging, of being relatively cheap and portable. It is thus a good method for many diagnostic clinical settings. The current resolution of ultrasonic imaging in the body is determined by various factors, including transducer design, frequency of operation, and depth of penetration required. However, there is a fundamental limit to the imaging performance of such systems - namely the diffraction limit. This sets the minimum spot size that a focused beam can achieve by conventional means, even in a perfect propagation medium. The present proposal aims to improve this by the use of metamaterials, which will be incorporated within an ultrasonic transducer system. These exotic materials are, in fact, made up of a complicated geometry, where the internal structure contains many sub-wavelength features. These can act together to make the material behave in a way that is totally different from normal structures. The result is that they can, for example, have a negative refractive index, noting that for conventional materials the value is always positive. Thus, a plate with flat parallel sides can focus ultrasound, provided it is designed correctly.The research will identify the best designs that can be used at biomedical ultrasound frequencies, which in the present case will be 1-5 MHz. To date, acoustic metamaterials have been designed typically for much lower frequency, and for use in air. In this project, novel new designs are proposed, which will first be modelled theoretically, and then constructed using high-resolution additive manufacturing (3D printing) techniques. Once built, the new structures will be tested with biomedical ultrasound transducers, and their performance in imaging systems determined. In this way, it is hoped to produce a new approach to diagnostic ultrasound, with resolution enhancement that could be useful for cardiovascular disease, prostate and skin cancer diagnosis.

超声生物医学成像通常用于诊断许多疾病。它能够显示软组织的详细结构，并且比其他成像方法（例如CT或MRI成像）具有相对便宜和便携的优势。因此，它是许多诊断临床环境的好方法。当前体内超声成像的分辨率由多种因素决定，包括换能器设计、工作频率和所需的穿透深度。然而，此类系统的成像性能存在一个基本限制——即衍射极限。这设定了聚焦光束可以通过传统方式实现的最小光斑尺寸，即使在完美的传播介质中也是如此。目前的提议旨在通过使用超材料来改善这一点，超材料将被纳入超声波换能器系统中。事实上，这些奇异材料由复杂的几何形状组成，其内部结构包含许多亚波长特征。它们可以共同作用，使材料的行为方式与正常结构完全不同。结果是，例如，它们可以具有负折射率，注意对于传统材料，该值始终为正。因此，只要设计正确，具有平坦平行侧面的板就可以聚焦超声波。该研究将确定可用于生物医学超声波频率的最佳设计，在目前的情况下，该频率为 1-5 MHz。迄今为止，声学超材料通常被设计用于低得多的频率，并且用于空气中。在该项目中，提出了新颖的设计，首先进行理论建模，然后使用高分辨率增材制造（3D 打印）技术进行构建。一旦建成，新结构将使用生物医学超声换能器进行测试，并确定其在成像系统中的性能。通过这种方式，希望能够产生一种新的超声诊断方法，其分辨率增强，可用于心血管疾病、前列腺癌和皮肤癌的诊断。

项目成果

期刊论文数量（9）

专著数量（0）

科研奖励数量（0）

会议论文数量（0）

专利数量（0）

Holey-structured tungsten metamaterials for broadband ultrasonic sub-wavelength imaging in water.

DOI：
10.1121/10.0005483
发表时间：
2021-07
期刊：
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
影响因子：
0
作者：
Lorenzo Astolfi;D. Hutchins;P. Thomas;R. Watson;Luzhen Nie;S. Freear;A. Clare;M. Ricci;S. Laur
通讯作者：
Lorenzo Astolfi;D. Hutchins;P. Thomas;R. Watson;Luzhen Nie;S. Freear;A. Clare;M. Ricci;S. Laur

Negative refraction in conventional and additively manufactured phononic crystals

传统和增材制造的声子晶体中的负折射