Ultrasonography Machine: SR - No Topic Name Page No
Ultrasonography Machine: SR - No Topic Name Page No
Ultrasonography Machine: SR - No Topic Name Page No
CONTENTS
SR.NO TOPIC NAME Introduction Introduction To Ultrasound Conversion of image From sound Modes of sonography Sound in the body Applications Attributes Conclusion Reference PAGE NO
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CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
Ultrasonography is the technique or the process of imaging deep structures of the body by measuring and recording the reflection of pulsed or continuous high-frequency sound waves. It is valuable in many Medical situations, including the diagnosis of fatal abnormalities, gallstones, heart Defects and tumours. Also called sonography. A radiologic technique in which deep structures of the body are visualized by recording the reflections (echoes) of ultrasonic waves directed into the tissues. The basic principle of ultrasonography is the same as that of depth-sounding in oceanographic studies of the ocean floor. The ultrasonic waves are confined to a narrow beam that may be transmitted through or refracted, absorbed, or reflected by the medium toward which they are directed, depending on the nature of the surface they strike. In diagnostic ultrasonography the ultrasonic waves are produced by electrically stimulating a crystal called a transducer. As the beam strikes an interface or boundary between tissues of varying density (e.g., muscle and blood) some of the sound waves are reflected back to the transducer as echoes. The echoes are then converted into electrical impulses that are displayed on an oscilloscope, presenting a picture of the tissues under examination. Ultrasonography can be utilized in examination of the heart (echocardiography), in location of aneurysms of the aorta and other abnormalities of the major blood vessels, and in identifying size and structural changes in organs in the abdominopelvic cavity. It is, therefore, of value in identifying and distinguishing cancers and benign cysts. The technique also may be used to evaluate tumours and foreign bodies of the eye, and to demonstrate retinal detachment. Ultrasonography is not, however, of much value in examination of the lungs because ultrasound waves do not pass through structures that containair.
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A particularly important use of ultrasonography is in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology, where ionizing radiation is to be avoided whenever possible. The technique can evaluate fatal size and maturity and fatal and placental position. It is a fast, relatively safe, and reliable technique for diagnosing multiple pregnancies. Uterine tumours and other pelvic masses, including abscesses, can be identified by ultrasonography.Ultrasonography machine is mainly work on the principal of the ultrasound.
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CHAPTER 2. ULTRASOUND
Ultrasound uses sound waves. Audible 20Hz and 20 000Hz. Infra sound below 20Hz Ultrasound above 20 000Hz Medical Application range 1 MHz to 15 MHz
Definition:
Ultrasound is high frequency mechanical vibrations or pressure waves above a frequency the human ear can hear. Ultrasound uses a pulse-echo technique of imaging the body. Pulses transmitted into patient and give rise to echoes when the enco reflectors. These interfaces/reflectors are caused by variations in the"acousitc impedance" between different tissues. Echo signals are amplified electronically and displayed on a monitor using shades of grey (from black to white), stronger reflectors = brighter shades of grey and appear white high frequency mechanical vibrations impedance "stronger reflectors = brighter shades of grey and appear white in an image.
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(Fig 2.2 Piezoelectric transducer) The sound waves are emitted from the crystal similar to sound waves being emitted from a loud speaker. The frequencies emitted are in the range of (2- 15MHz) and are unable to be heard by the human ear. Several crystals are arranged together to form a transducer. It is from the transducer that sound waves propagate through tissue to be reflected and returned as echoes back to the transducer. Sound is produced using Piezoelectricity which is the ability of some materials (notably crystals and certain ceramics) to generate an electric charge in response to applied mechanical stress, the reverse applies when The word is derived from the piezoelectric effect is reversible in that materials exhibiting the direct piezoelectric effect converse piezoelectric effect (the production of Biomedical engineering Page 5
( fig 2.3-piezo-electric transducer) Precise electrical pulses from the ultrasound machine make the transducer create sound waves at the desired frequency. The sound is focused either by the shape of the transducer (Curved, Linear, and Sector) or a set of control pulses from the ultrasound machine. This focusing produces the desired shaped sound wave from the face of the transducer. The wave travels into the body and comes into focus at a desired depth.
On the face of the transducer a rubber material enables the sound to be transmitted efficiently into the body. This rubber coating is required for impedance matching and allows good energy transfer from transducer to patient a vice versa. To help with the transmission of sound waves water based gel is placed between the patient's skin and the probe. The gel establishes good acoustic contact with the body, since air is a very good acoustic reflector.
A sound wave is typically produced by a piezoelectric transducer encased in a housing which can take a number of forms. Strong, short electrical pulses from the ultrasound machine make the transducer ring at the desired frequency. The frequencies can be anywhere between 2 and 18 MHz The sound is focused either by the shape of the transducer, a lens in front of the transducer, or a complex set of control pulses from the ultrasound scanner machine (Beam forming). This focusing produces an arc-shaped sound wave from the face of the transducer. The wave travels into the body and comes into focus at a desired depth.
Older technology transducers focus their beam with physical lenses. Newer technology transducers use phased array techniques to enable the sonographic machine to change the direction and depth of focus. Almost all piezoelectric transducers are made of ceramic.
Materials on the face of the transducer enable the sound to be transmitted efficiently into the body (usually seeming to be a rubbery coating, a form of impedance matching). In addition, a water-based gel is placed between the patient's skin and the probe.
The sound wave is partially reflected from the layers between different tissues. Specifically, sound is reflected anywhere there are density changes in the body: e.g. blood cells in blood plasma, small structures in organs, etc. Some of there flections return to the transducer.
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3.2 Receiving the echoes:The return of the sound wave to the transducer results in the same process that it took to send the sound wave, except in reverse. The return sound wave vibrates the transducer, the transducer turns the vibrations into electrical pulses that travel to the ultrasonic scanner where they are processed and transformed into a digital image.
3.3 Forming the image:The sonographic scanner must determine three things from each received echo:1-How long it took the echo to be received from when the sound was transmitted.2-From this the focal length for the phased array is deduced, enabling a sharp image that echo at that depth (this is not possible while producing a sound wave).3-How strong the echo was. It could be noted that sound wave is not a click, but a pulse with a specific carrier frequency. Moving objects change this frequency on reflection, so that it is only a matter of electronics to have simultaneous Doppler sonography.
Once the ultrasonic scanner determines these three things, it can locate which pixel in the image to light up and to what intensity and at what hue if frequency is processed (see red shift for a natural mapping to hue).
Transforming the received signal into a digital image may be explained by using a blank spreadsheet as an analogy. First picture a long, flat transducer at the top of the sheet. Send pulses down the 'columns' of the spreadsheet (A, B, C, etc.).Listen at each column for
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The strength of the echo determines the brightness setting for that cell (white for a strong echo, black for a weak echo, and varying shades of grey for everything in between.)When all the echoes are recorded on the sheet, we have a grayscale image.
3.4 Displaying the image:Images from the sonographic scanner can be displayed, captured, and broadcast through a computer using a frame grabber to capture and digitize the analog video signal. The captured signal can then be post-processed on the computer itself.
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Application of A SCAN:Echoencephalograph The instrument for diagnosis and detection of the midline of the Brain is called 'echoencephalograph' scope. Echo-ophthalmoscope it is used for the diagnosis of retinal detachment, intra-ocular tumors, vitreous, opacities, tumors and lens dislocation.
(2)B-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 twodimensional image on screen.
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The time it takes for the echo to travel back to the probe is measured and used calculate the depth of the tissue interface causing the echo. The greater the difference between acoustic impedances, the larger the echo is. If the pulse hits gases or solids, the density difference is so great that most of the acoustic energy is reflected and it becomes impossible to see deeper.
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Ultrasound probe
skin
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every time an echo is formed, but most of it (approximately from acoustic absorption.
) is lost
The speed of sound varies as it travels through different materials, and is dependent on the acoustical impedance of the material. However, the sonographic instrument assumes that the acoustic velocity is constant at 1540 m/s. An effect of this assumption is that in a real body with non-uniform tissues, the beam becomes somewhat de-focused and image resolution is reduced.
To generate a 2D-image, the ultrasonic beam is swept. A transducer may be swept mechanically by rotating or swinging. Or a 1D phased array transducer may be used to sweep the beam electronically. The received data is processed and used to construct the image. The image is then a 2D representation of the slice into the body.
3D images can be generated by acquiring a series of adjacent 2D images. Commonly a specialized probe that mechanically scans a conventional 2D-image transducer is used. However, since the mechanical scanning is slow, it is difficult to make 3D images of moving tissues. Recently, 2D phased array transducers that can sweep the beam in 3D have been developed. These can image faster and can even be used to make live 3D images of a beating heart.
Doppler ultrasonography is used to study blood flow and muscle motion. The different detected speeds are represented in color for ease of interpretation, for example leaky heart valves: the leak shows up as a flash of unique color. Colors may alternatively be used to represent the amplitudes of the received echoes.
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(fig.6.1-image display)
The choice of frequency is a trade-off between spatial resolution of the image and imaging depth: lower frequencies produce less resolution but image deeper into the body. Higher frequency sound waves have a smaller wavelength and thus are capable of reflecting or scattering from smaller structures. Higher frequency sound waves also have a larger attenuation coefficient and thus are more readily absorbed in tissue, limiting the depth of penetration of the sound wave into the body.
Sonography (ultrasonography) is widely used in medicine. It is possible to perform both diagnosis and therapeutic procedures, using ultrasound to guide interventional procedures (for instance biopsies or drainage of fluid collections).
Sonographers are medical professionals who perform scans which are then typically interpreted by Radiologists, physicians who specialize in the application and interpretation of a wide variety of medical imaging modalities, or by Cardiologists in the case of cardiac ultrasonography (echocardiography). Sonographers typically use a hand-held probe (called a transducer) that is placed directly on and moved over the patient.
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System
Anesthesiology
Description
Ultrasound is commonly used by anesthesiologists (Anesthetists) to guide injecting needles when placing local anesthetic solutions near nerves. Echocardiography is an essential tool in cardiology, to
Cardiology
diagnose e.g. dilatation of parts of the heart and function of heart ventricle sand valve. point of care ultrasound has many applications in the Emergency Department, including the focus assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) exam for assessing significant
Emergency Medicine
hem peritoneum or pericardial tamponade after trauma. Ultrasound is routinely used in the Emergency Department to expedite the care of patients with right upper quadrant abdominal pain who may have gallstones or cholecystitis.
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for basic assessment of intracerebral structural abnormalities, bleeds, ventriculomegaly or hydrocephalus and anoxic insults (Periventricular leukomalacia).The ultrasound can be performed through the soft spots in the skull of a newborn Neonatology infant(Fontanelle) until these completely close at about 1 year of age and form a virtually impenetrable acoustic barrier for the ultrasound. The most common site for cranial ultrasound is the anterior fontanelle.The smaller the fontanelle, the poorer Neurology Obstetrics the quality of the picture. for assessing blood flow and stenoses in the carotid arteries (Carotid ultrasonography) and the big intracerebral arteries Obstetrical sonography is commonly used during pregnancy to check on the development of the fetus. tendons, muscles, nerves, ligaments, soft tissue masses, and bone surfaces.
Musculoskeletal
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To determine, for example, the amount of fluid retained in a patient's bladder. In a pelvic sonogram, organs of the pelvic Ophthalmology region are imaged.
This includes the uterus and ovaries or bladder. Males are sometimes given a pelvic sonogram to check on the health of their bladder, the prostate, or their testicles(for example the distinguish epididymitis from testicular torsion).In young males, it is used to distinguish more benign testicular masses(varicocele or hydrocele) from testicular, which is still Gynecology very highly curable but which must be treated to preserve health and fertility.
A general-purpose sonographic machine may be used for most imaging purposes. Usually specialty applications may be served only by use of a specialty transducer. Most ultrasound procedures are done using a transducer on the surface of the body, but improved diagnostic confidence is often possible if a transducer can be placed inside the body. For this purpose, specialty transducers, including endovaginal, endorectal, and transesophageal transducers are commonly employed. At the extreme of this, very small transducers can be mounted on small diameter catheters and placed into blood vessels to image the walls and disease of those vessels. A sonogram (not to be confused with an ultrasound scan) uses the reflections of high-frequency sound waves to construct an image of a body organ.
Ultrasound sources may be used to generate regional heating and mechanical changes in biological tissue, e.g. in occupational therapy, physical therapy and cancer treatment. However the use of ultrasound in the treatment of musculoskeletal conditions has fallen out of favor.
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Focused ultrasound may be used to break up kidney stones by lithotripsy. Ultrasound may be used for cataract treatment by phacoemulsification.
Additional physiological effects of low-intensity ultrasound have recently been discovered, e.g. its ability to stimulate bone-growth and its potential to disrupt the blood brain barrier for drug delivery. Procoagulant at 512 MHz
CHAPTER 7. ATTRIBUTES
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7.1 Strengths:
It images muscle, soft tissue, and bone surfaces very well and is particularly useful for delineating the interfaces between solid and fluid-filled spaces.
It renders "live" images, where the operator can dynamically select the most useful section for diagnosing and documenting changes, often enabling rapid diagnoses. Live images also allow for ultrasound-guided biopsies or injections, which can be cumbersome with other imaging modalities. It shows the structure of organs.
It has no known long-term side effects and rarely causes any discomfort to the patient. Equipment is widely available and comparatively flexible. Small, easily carried scanners are available; examinations can be performed at the bedside.
Relatively inexpensive compared to other modes of investigation, such as computed x-ray tomography, DEXA or magnetic resonance imaging. Spatial resolution is better in high frequency ultrasound transducers than it is in most other imaging modalities.
Through the use of an Ultrasound research interface, an ultrasound device can offer a relatively inexpensive, real-time, and flexible method for capturing data required for special research purposes for tissue characterization and development of new image processing techniques.
7.2 Weaknesses:
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Sonography performs very poorly when there is a gas between the transducer and the organ of interest, due to the extreme differences in acoustic impedance. For example, overlying gas in the gastrointestinal tract often makes ultrasound scanning of the pancreas difficult, and lung imaging is not possible (apart from demarcating pleural effusions).
Even in the absence of bone or air, the depth penetration of ultrasound may be limited depending on the frequency of imaging. Consequently, there might be difficulties imaging structures deep in the body, especially in obese patients.
Body habit us has a large influence on image quality, image quality and accuracy of diagnosis is limited with obese patients, overlying subcutaneous fat attenuates the sound beam and a lower frequency transducer is required (with lower resolution).
The method is operator-dependent. A high level of skill and experience is needed to acquire good-quality images and make accurate diagnoses. There is no scout image as there is with CT and MRI. Once an image has been acquired there is no exact way to tell which part of the body was imaged.
World Health Organizations technical report series 875 (1998). supports that ultrasound is harmless: "Diagnostic ultrasound is recognized as a safe, effective, and highly flexible imaging modality capable of providing clinically relevant information about most parts of the body in a rapid and cost-effective fashion". Although there is no evidence ultrasound
Could be harmful for the fetus, US Food and Drug Administration views promotion, selling, or leasing of ultrasound equipment for making "keepsake fetal videos" to be an unapproved use of a medical device.
7.3.1 Studies on the safety of ultrasound:A meta-analysis of several ultrasonography studies published in 2000 found no statistically significant harmful effects from ultrasonography, but mentioned that there was a lack of data on long-term substantive outcomes such as neurodevelopment.
A study at the Yale School of Medicine published in 2006 found a small but significant correlation between prolonged and frequent use of ultrasound and abnormal neuronal migration in mice. Biomedical engineering Page 27
The above findings, however, were not confirmed in a later follow-up study. A later study, however, performed on a larger sample of 8865 children, has established a statistically significant, albeit weak association of ultrasonography exposure and being non-right handed later in life .
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- In ultrasound machine by reflecting echoes, physician can get information about inside
body organ
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www.Imedix.com
9.2 Books
Handbook of Biomedical Instrumentation by R S Khandpur. Ultrasound teaching manual by Matthias hofer Textbook of diagnostic ultrasonography volum2 by Sandra l hagen-ansert Clinical guide to ultrasound by charlotte henningsen
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