Development and applications of ultrasound elastomicroscopy

传统的超声弹性成像技术一般使用1MHz～10MHz的超声波,这一频段超声波的空间分辨率在毫米量级,它不能满足对生物组织中微细结构(如皮肤层,关节软骨等)的研究。文中介绍一套新开发的超声弹性显微镜成像系统,并将其初步应用于对关节软骨和老鼠表皮的成像研究中。该系统由加压系统和背向散射超声显微镜系统两部分组成,其中超声探头频率为50MHz。通过对关节软骨和老鼠表皮的成像实验表明,该系统可以清晰的对生物组织中微细结构成像,研究它们的机械特性。||Traditional elasticity imaging,typically operated in the ultrasound frequency range of 1～10 MHz,can provide resolutions in the order of millimeters.This is insufficient for observing fine structures of biological tissues such as skin and articular cartilage.In this paper a new ultra-sound elastomicroscopy is developed and applied to image the articular cartilage and mouse skin.The system consists of a compression system and a backscatter ultrasound microscope system with an ultrasound transducer of 50 MHz.By imaging the articular cartilage and mouse skin,it has been shown that the system can clearly image the fine structure of biological tissues and study the machine properties.