Ultrasound assessment of translation of microbubbles driven by acoustic radiation force in a channel filled with stationary fluid

J Acoust Soc Am. 2019 Oct;146(4):2335. doi: 10.1121/1.5128309.

Abstract

In this report, a method is proposed to quantify the translation of ultrasound contrast agent (UCA) microbubbles driven by acoustic radiation for the detection of channels filled with stationary fluid. The authors subjected UCA microbubbles in a channel with diameters of 0.1 and 0.5 mm to ultrasound pulses with a center frequency of 14.4 MHz. The translational velocity of the UCA microbubbles increased with the sound pressure and pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of the transmitted ultrasound. The mean translational velocity reached 0.75 mm/s at a negative peak sound pressure of 2.76 MPa and a PRF of 2 kHz. This trend agreed with the theoretical prediction, which indicated that the translational velocity was proportional to the square of the sound pressure and the PRF. Furthermore, an experiment was carried out with a phantom that mimics tissue and found that the proposed method aided in detection of the channel, even in the case of a low contrast-echo to tissue-echo ratio. The authors expect to develop the proposed method into a technique for detecting lymph vessels.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Contrast Media
  • Hydrodynamics*
  • Lymphatic System / diagnostic imaging
  • Mechanical Phenomena
  • Microbubbles
  • Phantoms, Imaging
  • Ultrasonics*
  • Ultrasonography / methods*

Substances

  • Contrast Media