심장조직 정밀분석을 위한 고주파 초음파 횡파 탄성 영상 시스템

Abstract

Several imaging devices have been used to diagnose heart disease. However, these imaging devices have limitations with regard to the observation of small lesions, which makes early detection of heart disease difficult. This study proposes a shear wave imaging system with a high-frequency ultrasound transducer to measure the mechanical properties of heart tissue to diagnose heart disease. A 38-MHz ultrasound transducer is used to achieve a high-resolution image, and a mechanical vibrator is used to generate shear waves in the heart tissue. In the phantom experiments, spatial resolutions are experimentally determined. The lateral and axial resolutions are 144 and 168 µm, respectively. The feasibility of the proposed system is demonstrated in the experiments pertaining to induced disease-like deformations. The obtained images exhibit local variations in the mechanical properties. Thus, the proposed imaging system can detect small lesions in heart tissue, which is important for early detection of heart disease.