Lecture One:

Ultrasound Machine
 History

Uses of ultrasonic energy in the 1940s. Left, in gastric ulcers. Right, in

arthritis

Ultrasonic A British
therapy ultrasonic
apparatus for
generator,
the treatment
the "Medi- of Meniere's
Sonar" in the disease in the
1950s. late 1950s
 History

Denier's Ultrasonoscopic
apparatus with ultrasound
generator, emitter transducer
and oscilloscope. This can be The first hand-held imaging
adapted for both therapeutic instrument was developed by John
and diagnostic purposes Wild and John Reid in the early
1950's
 Physics of Ultrasound
Sound Ultrasound

• Mechanical &
• Mechanical &
Longitudinal wave
Longitudinal wave
• Travels in a straight
• Exceeding the upper
Line
limit of human hearing
• Human ear range is
• > 20,000H or 20kHz.
20Hz - 20kHz
• Cannot travel through
Vacuum
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 Characteristics of Ultrasounds

• Velocity
• Frequency
• Wavelength
• Amplitude

• The Relationship b/w v, f and

λ is:
v=fλ
• Average speed of ultrasound
in body is 1540m/sec

• Imaging range is 2 to 20MHz

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Characteristics of Ultrasounds
Velocity

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 Advanatges
• Real-time
• Portable
• No ionizing radiation
• Inexpensive?
• Side-side comparison
• Patients love it!
• Guide procedures
 Disadvanatges
• Operator dependent
• Expensive?
• Limited penetration through bone
and air
• Imaging deep structures
Ultrasound machine
 Basic Ultrasound Physics
Amplitude

oscillations/sec = frequency - expressed in Hertz

(Hz)
 Bats: Navigating with ultrasound

• Bats make high-pitched chirps which are too high

for humans to hear. This is called ultrasound
• Like normal sound, ultrasound echoes off objects
• The bat hears the echoes and works out what
caused them
• Dolphins also navigate with ultrasound
• Submarines use a similar method called sonar
• We can also use ultrasound to look inside the
body…
• An ultrasound element acts like a bat.
• Emit ultrasound and detect echoes
• Map out boundary of object
• Medical Ultrasound 2MHz to 16MHz
• Electric field applied to
piezoelectric crystals located
on transducer surface
• Mechanical vibration of
crystals creates sound waves
Each crystal produces an US
wave
• Summation of all waves
forms the US beam
• Wave reflects as echo that
vibrates transducer
• Vibrations produce electrical
pulses
• Scanner processes and
transforms to image
 Ultrasound Production
• Transducer produces ultrasound pulses
• These elements convert electrical energy into a
mechanical ultrasound wave

• Reflected echoes return to the scan head which

converts the ultrasound wave into an electrical
signal
 Frequency vs. Resolution
• The frequency also affects the QUALITY of the ultrasound
image
– The HIGHER the frequency, the BETTER the resolution
• The LOWER the frequency, the LESS the resolution
• A 12 MHz transducer has very good resolution, but cannot
penetrate very deep into the body
• A 3 MHz transducer can penetrate deep into the body, but
the resolution is not as good as the 12 MHz
 Image Formation
Electrical signal produces ‘dots’ on the
screen

• Brightness of the dots is proportional to the

strength of the returning echoes
• Location of the dots is determined by travel
time. The velocity in tissue is assumed
constant at 1540m/sec
Distance = Velocity
Time
 Interactions of Ultrasound with
Tissue
• Acoustic impedance (AI) is dependent on the density of
the material in which sound is propagated
- the greater the impedance the denser the material.
• Reflections comes from the interface of different AI’s
• greater  of the AI = more signal reflected
• works both ways (send and receive directions)
Transducer

Medium 1 Medium 2 Medium 3

Interactions of Ultrasound with
Tissue

• Reflection
• Refraction
• Transmission
• Attenuation
 Interactions of Ultrasound with
Tissue
• Reflection
– The ultrasound reflects off tissue and returns to
the transducer, the amount of reflection depends on
differences in acoustic impedance
– The ultrasound image is formed from reflected echoes

transducer
Interactions of Ultrasound with
Tissue
Transmission
– Some of the ultrasound waves continue deeper
into
the body
– These waves will reflect from deeper tissue
structures

transducer
Interactions of Ultrasound with
Tissue
Attenuation
– Defined - the deeper the wave travels in
the body, the weaker it becomes -3
processes: reflection, absorption, refraction
– Air (lung)> bone > muscle > soft tissue
>blood > water
 Reflected Echo’s
• Strong Reflections = White dots
Diaphragm, tendons, bone
‘Hyperechoic’
 Reflected Echo’s
Weaker Reflections =
Grey dots

– Most solid organs,

– thick fluid – ‘isoechoic’
 Reflected Echo’s
• No Reflections = Black dots
– Fluid within a cyst, urine, blood
‘Hypoechoic’ or echofree
What determines how far ultrasound waves
can travel?

• The FREQUENCY of the transducer

– The HIGHER the frequency, the LESS it
can penetrate
– The LOWER the frequency, the DEEPER it
can penetrate
– Attenuation is directly related to frequency
 The Transducer
3.5 MHz 7.5 MHz

Thicker crystal Thinner crystal

produces bigger produces smaller
sound waves. sound waves.
 The Transducer
3.5 MHz 7.5 MHz

The LOWER the The HIGHER frequency

frequency the better the less the penetration
the penetration
Bigger, Stronger Smaller, weaker
 The Transducer
Short pulses of sound are sent (transmits) into the
body and then the transducer listens for the
returning signals (receives).
The ultrasound system processes the returning
signals into images that are displayed on the
ultrasound monitor

Transmits

Waits

Receives
 Grayscale Imaging
The strength of the returning echoes also
depends on the differences in the acoustic
impedance between various structures.
Acoustic impedance relates to tissue
density.
The greater the difference in density
between two structures, the stronger the
returning echo
Examples:
different: aorta and liver
same: kidney and liver
 Grayscale Imaging
• Attenuation:
A decrease in the strength of the sound wave as it
passes through tissue and further into the body.
• Acoustic Impedance:
The resistance of the sound wave traveling
through tissue .Each tissue has its own
acoustic impedance due to the density of the
tissue.
• Through Transmission:

There is no attenuation of the sound wave

traveling through the tissue.
 Grayscale Imaging
WHITE DOTS = STRONG = e.g., bone
BLACK DOTS = NO reflections = e.g.,
fluid
GRAY (different shades) = WEAKER
reflections
 Grayscale Imaging

The strength of the returning

echo is directly
related to the angle at which the
ultrasound beam strikes an interface.
The more perpendicular
the ultrasound beam, the
stronger the returning echo.
 Resolution

• Clarity of picture
• The ability to identify structures very close
together./
• Ability of equipment to detect
2 separate reflectors in tissue and to display
them as 2 separate reflectors on the monitor
without merging them.
 Image Resolution
Types of Resolution

Axial Ability to identify structures that are one in

front of the other
Lateral Ability to identify structures that are side by
side
Temporal Ability to accurately locate a moving structure

Spatial Ability to display very small structures in their

correct anatomic location.
 Next class
• Principles of A-Mode, B-Mode, M-
Mode
• Application area of ultrasound
• parts of ultrasound machineineParts
of Ultrasound Machine
Summary of previous class
• SOUND to IMAGE
• producing a sound wave,
• receiving echoes, and
• interpreting those echoes
 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.
• One use of the A scan is to measure
length. For an example, ophthalmologists
can use it to measure the diameter of the
eye ball.
 B-mode or 2D mode
• 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.
• B-flow is a mode that digitally highlights
moving reflectors (mainly red blood cells)
while suppressing the signals from the
surrounding stationary tissue.
• It can visualize flowing blood and surrounding
stationary tissues simultaneously
 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 structures.
• Used to study rhythmically moving structures
 Application

• In the field of obstetrics and gynecology, where

ionizing radation
isto be avoided whenever possible.
• To evaluate fetal size and maturity and fet
al and placental position.
• It is a fast, relatively safe, and reliable tech
nique for diagnosing multiple pregnancies.
Uterine tumors and other pelvicmasses, in
cluding abscesses, can be identified by ultr
asonography.
Axial Resolution

3.5MHz The shorter the

pulse, the better
the axial resolution

Increasing the
frequency
7.5 MHz increases axial
resolution
 Characteristics of Sound
Frequency

Sound Sound Axial

Frequency Penetratio Resolution
n
High

Low
 Lateral Resolution
• Very important for ultrasound guidance
with needles/probes

A
transducer
with a large
surface
area will
resolve
better in
the lateral
dimension
 Parts of Ultrasound Machine

Transducer
Probe CPU
(Central Storage
Pulse Key Board Display Printer
Processing device
control Unit)

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Parts of Ultrasound Machine

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Components/ parts of Ultrasound machine
• Transducer probe - probe that sends and receives the sound
waves
• Central processing unit (CPU) - computer that does all of
the calculations and contains the electrical power supplies for
itself and the transducer probe
• Transducer pulse controls - changes the amplitude,
frequency and duration of the pulses emitted from the
transducer probe
• Display - displays the image from the ultrasound data
processed by the CPU
• Keyboard/cursor - inputs data and takes measurements from
the display
• Disk storage device (hard, floppy, CD) - stores the acquired
 Transducer
Transducer Probe

• Mouth and ears of the machine.

• It makes the sound waves and receives the
echoes
• Piezoelectric crystals
• Electric current is applied and change shape
rapidly
• When sound waves hit the crystals, they emit
electrical currents
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 Transducer

Transducer (pulse controls)

• The operator, called the ultra sonographer,

changes the amplitude, frequency and duration of
the pulses emitted from the transducer probe

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Types of Ultrasound Transducer

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Central Processing Unit (CPU)

• Brain of an ultrasound machine

• Contains the microprocessor, memory and
amplifiers
• The transducer receives electrical currents from
the CPU and sends electrical pulses that are created
by returning echoes

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 Keyboard/Cursor
It allows the operator to add notes and to take
measurements of the image

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 Display

• Displays the image from the ultrasound data

processed by the CPU
• This image can be either in black-and-white or color,
depending upon the model of the ultrasound machine

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 How is an image formed on the
monitor?

• Strong Reflections = White dots

Pericardium, calcified structures, diaphragm
• Weaker Reflections = Grey dots
Myocardium, valve tissue, vessel walls, liver
• No Reflections = Black dots
Intra-cardiac cavities, gall bladder

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 Disk Storage & Printers

The processed data and images can be stored on disks

• Hard disks, floppy disks, compact disks (CDs), or
digital video disks (DVDs)
• Most of the time, ultrasound scans are filled on floppy
disks and stored with the patient's medical records
• Most ultrasound machines have printers which are
thermal

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Block Diagram

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 Main Parts of Block Diagram

• User interface
• Controller
• Front End
•Scanner(beamforming and signal processing)
•Back End

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 User interface

• Desired mode of operation

• Information in and out of the system through connectors to the
system
• VCRs & memory storage devices such as read/write CD-ROMs
and DAT drives

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 Controller

• System have one or more microprocessors

• Senses the settings of the controls and input devices
• Control the hardware to function in the desired mode.
• Estimate the level of acoustic output in real time

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 Front End

• This grouping within the scanner is the gateway of

signals going in and out of the selected transducer
• Pulses are sent to the transducer from the
transmitter circuitry
• Pulse-echo signals from the body are received by
array elements These signals then pass on to the
receive beam former.

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 Front End

• Organizing the many signals of the elements

• The transmit beamformer sends pulses to the
elements
• Analog to Digital Converter
• Filters

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 Scanner(beamforming and signal processing)

• This grouping of functions is associated with image

formation, display and image metrics
• Image formation is achieved by organizing the lines
and putting them through a digital scan converter
that transforms them into a scan format for display
on a video or PC monitor.
• Image overlays containing alpha-numeric characters
and other information are added in image planes

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 Applications

• Gynecology
• Anesthesiology
• Cardiology
• Gastroenterology
• Obstetrics
• Urology

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