Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Ultrasound imaging is a technique of generating images using a very high

frequency .Ultrasound is sound whose frequency is above the range of human hearing.
Diagnostic ultrasound is used to evaluate a patient’s internal organs. Ultrasound for
medical imaging is generated in special crystalline materials which, when electrically
excited, are capable of vibrating at frequencies of millions of vibrations per second.
Sound waves are transmitted into the body then returning echoes can be collected and
used to form an image of a structure. The devices in which ultrasound is produced, and
also detected, are called transducers.
Once ultrasound is produced, the ultrasonic energy is suitably focused into a
narrow beam, which is then directed into the tissues in selected areas of interest in the
patient. Along its path, the beam interacts with the tissues through various processes,
suffering a reduction in its intensity, or attenuation. The major interaction processes
include reflection, refraction, absorption, and scattering of the beam energy. The beam
also undergoes changes in shape and size as it spreads out, or diverges, beyond the
region where it is well-focused. The interaction processes are affected by both the
parameters of the ultrasound beam, especially the frequency, and the physical
properties of the medium through which the beam passes. The most significant medium
properties in this respect include the density, elasticity, and viscosity. The behavior of
some biological materials is worthy of note. The presence of gas is associated with
near-total reflection of ultrasound. On the other hand, liquid compartments do not reflect
and therefore present as characteristic echo-free zones. Bone is noted for its heavy
absorption. The soft tissues show comparatively less dramatic behavior under
interrogation by ultrasound.
WAVE TERMINOLOGY
The characteristics of a sound wave can be described by the following parameters:
Period (T) – The time taken for a particle in the medium through which the wave is traveling
to make one complete oscillation about its rest position.(One oscillation is also referred to
as a cycle)
Frequency (f) – The number of cycles per second performed by the particles of the medium
in response to a wave passing through it. Expressed in Hertz, where I Hz = 1 cycle passing
a given point each second, therefore 3MHz = 3 million cycles per second
Wavelength (λ) – The distance between two consecutive, identical positions in the pressure
wave (e.g. between 2 compressions or between 2 rarefactions). It is determined by the
frequency of the wave and the speed of propagation in the medium through which it is
traveling. In diagnostic ultrasound, commonly used frequencies and their respective
wavelengths in soft tissue are as follows:
Frequency - 3MHz / Wavelength – 0.51mm

Frequency – 5MHz / Wavelength – 0.31mm
Velocity (c) – speed of sound with direction specified. When a sound wave travels through
any medium it is certain parameters of that medium, which determine the speed of sound
propagation. These determining factors are density and compressibility. Therefore, speed of
speed of sound is a characteristic of each material through which sound travels, e.g.
Material Speed of Sound

Air 330 m/second
Metal 5000 m/sec
Pure Water 1430 m/sec
Speed of sound in various organs of the body also differs; e.g.
Soft Tissue Type Speed of Sound

Fat 1450m/sec
Liver 1550m/sec
Blood 1570m/sec
Muscle 1585m/sec
Bone 4080m/sec
In practical terms, ultrasound machines need to operate on a single value for speed of
sound in soft tissue; therefore an average speed for soft tissue is taken to be
1540m/sec.
Amplitude (A) – maximum variation of an acoustic variable, thus amplitude is a measure

of the degree of change within a medium when a sound wave passes through it and
relates to the severity of the disturbance. In this way, the amount of energy in a sound
wave can be determined. Amplitude is expressed in units that are appropriate for the
acoustic variable considered.
Power (W) – the rate at which work is done or the rate of flow of energy through a given
area. In diagnostic ultrasound energy is contained within the beam, so the power is the
rate of flow of energy through the cross-sectional area of the beam. Power is expressed
in Watts.
Intensity (I) – power per unit area. Intensity is expressed in milli watts per square
centimeter (mWatts/cm2). Intensity is an important parameter in describing an
ultrasound beam and in the understanding of bio effects and safety.
THE PIEZO-ELECTRIC EFFECT

Artificially grown crystals are commonly used for modern transducers and are
treated with high temperatures and strong electric fields to produce the piezo-electric
properties necessary to generate sound waves. The principle of piezo-electricity is
central to the production of ultrasound beams and states that some materials produce a
voltage when deformed by an applied pressure and produce a pressure when deformed
by an applied voltage. Thus, when a voltage is applied to the faces of a crystal, it
expands or contracts depending upon the polarity of the voltage applied. The crystal
then resonates, converting electricity to ultrasound. The frequency of sound produced is
dependent on the thickness of the crystal. Conversely, the when the crystal receives an
echo, the sound deforms the crystal and a voltage is produced on its faces – this
voltage is then analyzed by the system.
If expansion & contraction occurs more than 20000 times per second, then
ultrasound is being produced, which will continue until the applied voltage is
discontinued (Continuous wave). If voltage is applied for an extremely short time, then
the crystal resonates (rings) at its own frequency and the ringing gradually decays – a
pulse is produced. The larger the voltage applied the greater the amplitude of the
emitted sound (louder ringing). Very short pulses are required for diagnostic ultrasound
images to be produced, so the ringing of the crystal is stopped short by a damping
material being applied to absorb vibrations.
Several modes of ultrasound are used in medical imaging. These are:
 A-mode: A-mode (amplitude mode) is the simplest type of ultrasound. A single

transducer scans a line through the body with the echoes plotted on screen as a
function of depth. Therapeutic ultrasound aimed at a specific tumor or calculus is
also A-mode, to allow for pinpoint accurate focus of the destructive wave energy.
 B-mode or 2D mode: In B-mode (brightness mode) ultrasound, a linear array of
transducers simultaneously scans a plane through the body that can be viewed as a
two-dimensional image on screen. More commonly known as 2D mode now.
 C-mode: A C-mode image is formed in a plane normal to a B-mode image. A
gate that selects data from a specific depth from an A-mode line is used; then the
transducer is moved in the 2D plane to sample the entire region at this fixed depth.
When the transducer traverses the area in a spiral, an area of 100 cm2 can be
scanned in around 10 seconds.[14]
 M-mode: In M-mode (motion mode) ultrasound, pulses are emitted in quick
succession – each time, either an A-mode or B-mode image is taken. Over time, this
is analogous to recording a video in ultrasound. As the organ boundaries that
produce reflections move relative to the probe, this can be used to determine the
velocity of specific organ structure.
 Doppler mode: This mode makes use of the Doppler effect in measuring and
visualizing blood flow
Color Doppler: Velocity information is presented as a color-coded overlay on
top of a B-mode image
Continuous wave (CW) Doppler: Doppler information is sampled along a line
through the body, and all velocities detected at each time point are presented (on a time
line)
Pulsed wave (PW) Doppler: Doppler information is sampled from only a small
sample volume (defined in 2D image), and presented on a timeline
BEAM PROFILE
The shape of the ultrasound beam is important to the quality of the image it produces.
The beam profile is made up of three parts:
1. Near Field (Fresnel Zone)
2. Far Field (Frauhofer Zone)
3. Transition Point – point at which near field ends and divergence begins
The ultrasound pulse maintains a relatively constant diameter in the near field
that can be used for imaging. The near field is the part of the beam useful for imaging
purposes; however this can be quite large in area, depending on the diameter of the
crystal. Imaging requires a very narrow beam to produce high-resolution diagnosis.
Focusing is used to achieve these narrow beams.
The major characteristic of the far field is that the beam diverges. This causes
the ultrasound pulses to be larger in diameter but to have less intensity along the central
axis.
RESOLUTION
Resolution is defined, as the ability to distinguish echoes in terms of space, time or

strength and good resolution is thus critical to the production of high quality images.
1. Contrast resolution
2. Temporal resolution
3. Spatial resolution
Contrast resolution refers to the ability of an ultrasound system to demonstrate

differentiation between tissues having different characteristics e.g. liver/spleen.
Temporal resolution is the ability of an ultrasound system to accurately show changes in
the underlying anatomy over time, this is particularly important in echocardiography.
Spatial resolution is the ability of the ultrasound system to detect and display structures
that are close together. Since an ultrasound image displays depth into the patient and
width across a section of anatomy it is therefore reasonable to consider two types of
spatial resolution – Axial & Lateral.
Axial resolution
The ability to display small targets along the path of the beam as separate entities.

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CHAPTER 1

Ultrasound imaging is a technique of generating images using a very high

Frequency - 3MHz / Wavelength – 0.51mm

Material Speed of Sound

Soft Tissue Type Speed of Sound

Amplitude (A) – maximum variation of an acoustic variable, thus amplitude is a measure

THE PIEZO-ELECTRIC EFFECT

Several modes of ultrasound are used in medical imaging. These are:

 A-mode: A-mode (amplitude mode) is the simplest type of ultrasound. A single

Resolution is defined, as the ability to distinguish echoes in terms of space, time or

Contrast resolution refers to the ability of an ultrasound system to demonstrate

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