Novel ultrasound tomograph for anatomical inspection

Julien Rouyer (1) , Philippe Lasaygues (1) , Serge Mensah (1)

1 O&I - Ondes et Imagerie

A device for ultrasound computed tomography (UCT) is introduced here. An half-ring transducer array was designed in conformity with the breast anatomy and the cancer growth region to perform an early detection. The array comprises 1,024 elements set in a 190-degree circular arc with a radius of 100 mm. The nominal frequency is 3 MHz with a 79% −6 dB bandwidth. The front-end electronics incorporate 32 independent transmit/receive parallel channels and a 32-to-1,024 multiplexer unit. The acquisition circuitries have a variable sampling frequency of up to 80 MHz and a precision of 12 bits. Arbitrary waveforms are synthesized to improve the signal-to-noise ratio and to increase the in-depth resolution. Tomographic acquisitions were realized in diffraction mode using a restricted aperture. The backscattered field was recorded in the case of a string phantom (0.08-mm diameter steel threads) and a breast-shaped phantom containing inclusions. Data were processed with dedicated correction tools processes such as pulse compression. Objects were reconstructed with the ellipsoidal back-projection method.

Mots clés: Ultrasound imaging; Computed tomography; Transducer array; Mammogram; Mimicking phantom

Domaines: Imagerie médicale; Acoustique [physics.class-ph]; Acoustique [physics.class-ph]

Julien Rouyer, Philippe Lasaygues, Serge Mensah. Novel ultrasound tomograph for anatomical inspection. Acoustical Imaging 31, Apr 2011, Warsaw, Poland. pp.3-10, ⟨10.1007/978-94-007-2619-2_1⟩. ⟨hal-00733339⟩