Next-Generation Ultrafast Volumetric Ultrasound Imaging

Three dimensional ultrasound scans are becoming more widespread in clinics but clinicians don't always prefer to use them. In part this may be because there are significant engineering compromises made to generate 3D images and 3D slices from these scans are often of inferior quality to more conventional B-scans. Moreover, typically any aims to improve image quality may come at the expense of imaging frame-rate and system cost and complexity. In this proposal we develop key 2D transducer architectures that will allow potentially massive scale-up of transducers, as well as novel coded pulse-sequence and signal processing strategies to obtain unprecedented 3D ultrasound image quality at ultrafast frame-rates. These developments will be targeted to improve echocardiography and where image quality and frame rate are of paramount importance. If successful, many other applications will emerge.