生物组织的组分和结构特性对非线性超声参量值的影响

非线性声参量是非线性声学的一个重要参量。本文利用有限振幅插入取代法测量了正常的和八种病变猪肝脏组织的非线性参量B/A值。利用混合定律对生物组织的组分进行了分析和预测。结果表明,非线性声参量对生物组织的病理状态反映敏感且B/A值依赖于组织的组分和结构特性的变化。     

锯齿波信号激励增强超声造影剂的次谐波信号

提出了一种利用锯齿波激励以增强超声造影剂微气泡激发的次谐波信噪比的方法。基于修正的Church方程,采用数值计算分析了锯齿波激励下微气泡产生的次谐波的声压阈值及变化特性,并与正弦波激励进行了比较。实验中采用声压相等的基频为2 MHz的锯齿波及正弦波激发一种自制的包膜微气泡造影剂,测量了产生次谐波的激励声压阈值及与激励声压的关系。结果表明,锯齿波信号激励可以增强次谐波信号的强度,相对于正弦波激励增强约13 dB,并且激发声压阈值较低。实验结果与数值计算结果相符。     

Nonlinear response of ultrasound contrast agent microbubbles:From fundamentals to applications

Modelling and biomedical applications of ultrasound contrast agent(UCA) microbubbles have attracted a great deal of attention. In this review, we summarize a series of researches done in our group, including(i) the development of an all-in-one solution of characterizing coated bubble parameters based on the light scattering technique and flow cytometry;(ii) a novel bubble dynamic model that takes into consideration both nonlinear shell elasticity and viscosity to eliminate the dependences of bubble shell parameters on bubble size;(iii) the evaluation of UCA inertial cavitation threshold and its relationship with shell parameters; and(iv) the investigations of transfection efficiency and the reduction of cytotoxicity in gene delivery facilitated by UCAs excited by ultrasound exposures.     

B模式实时成像定量监控超声空化时空行为的研究

提出一种采用B超图像实现高强聚焦超声(HIFU)治疗时声空化的时空量化监控的方法。首先,采用B模式实时成像系统对不同声辐照能量下的HIFU在凝胶仿体中引发的超声空化进行实验监测;接着,利用二维数字图像处理算法消除高强聚焦超声(HIFU)在B超图像中产生的干涉条纹,并在此基础上,对B超成像中观察到的高亮区域的面积变化情况进行量化分析;最后,进一步讨论了驱动声压或脉冲宽度对超声空化产生的高亮区域的生成速度和面积大小的影响。结果显示该方法可以有效去除B超图像中的干涉条纹,并对HIFU引发的空化现象进行实时监测。实验结果还表明辐照声能量的提高将引发更强烈的声空化行为,并且显著缩短HIFU引发的空化泡群的初始生成时间。研究结果对进一步优化HIFU治疗有重要意义。      

The viscoelasticity of lipid shell and the hysteresis of subharmonic in liquid containing microbubbles

The viscoelasticity and subharmonic generation of a kind of lipid ultrasound contrast agent are investigated. Based on the measurement of the sound attenuation spectrum, the viscoelasticity of the lipid shell is estimated by use of an optimization method. Shear modulus G_S=10MPa and shear viscosity \mu _S=1.49N\cdotS/m² are obtained. The nonlinear oscillation of the encapsulated microbubble is studied with Church's model theoretically and experimentally. Especially, the dependence of subharmonic on the incident acoustic pressure is studied. The results reveal that the development of the subharmonic undergoes three stages, i.e. occurrence, growth and saturation, and that hysteresis appears in descending ramp insonation.     

An improved lumped parameter model predicting attenuation of earmuff with air leakage

Since air leakage is inevitable when earmuffs are worn improperly or together with safety glasses in factory or military, it is required to be considered to accurately predict earmuff attenuation. Besides unwanted air leakage, under controlled air leakage is introduced to earmuff to achieve adjustable attenuations in different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and balance between attenuation and speech intelligibility. This work is to develop an improved lumped parameter model (LPM) to predict earmuff attenuation with consideration of air leakage. Air leakage paths are introduced into conventional LPM without air leakage, and air leakage path impedance is analytically described by Maa's microperforated tube impedance. Earmuff passive attenuation behavior can be analytically described and analyzed with the improved LPM. Finally, the validity of improved LPM is verified experimentally. The results indicate that the improved LPM can predict earmuff attenuation with air leakage, and air leakage deteriorates earmuff attenuation and turns resonance frequency higher.     

Molecular structure dependence of acoustic nonlinearity parameter B/A for silicone oils

Exploring new acoustic parameters is essential to develop a noninvasive imaging technique for the surgery of silicone oil tamponades. In this study, the acoustic nonlinearity parameters B/A of varied silicone oil samples(e.g., linear or hyperbranched) are experimentally measured by using a modified thermodynamic method. The results show that:(i) when the concentration of the silicone oil with a molecular weight of 5 × 104increases from 0.5 g/100 ml to 8 g/100 ml, the corresponding B/A value increases by about 18%, but the acoustic velocity only increases by about 0.1%;(ii) when the molecular weight of the hyper-branched silicone oil is enhanced from 2 × 105to 1 × 106, the B/A value increases by about22%, while the acoustic velocity is only raised by about 0.2%. This study suggests that the B/A parameter of the silicone oil is more sensitive to the change in its molecular structure than that of the acoustic velocity. Thus, the B/A parameter might be utilized as an effective index for the development and optimization of the noninvasive imaging of the surgery of silicone oil tamponades.     

Modeling of Nonlinear Propagation in Multi-layer Biological Tissues for Strong Focused Ultrasound

A theoretical model of the nonlinear propagation in multi-layered tissues for strong focused ultrasound is proposed. In this model, the spheroidal beam equation （SBE） is utilized to describe the nonlinear sound propagation in each layer tissue, and generalized oblique incidence theory is used to deal with the sound transmission between two layer tissues. Computer simulation is performed on a fat-muscle-liver tissue model under the irradiation of a 1 MHz focused transducer with a large aperture angle of 35°. The results demonstrate that the tissue layer would change the amplitude of sound pressure at the focal region and cause the increase of side petals.     

超谐波声场及其生物组织成像的理论及实验研究

理论及实验研究了平面活塞换能器激发的超谐波(三次、四次及五次谐波的线性幅度叠加)的轴向和径向声场特性,讨论了声源强度及传播距离对超谐波的强度及指向性的影响。结果表明在合适的声源强度及传播距离条件下,超谐波的幅度可大于二次谐波,同时-3dB波束宽度变窄,为基波和二次谐波的59%和77%。对生物组织进行了超谐波成像,并与基波、二次谐波图像对比。结果表明超谐波可提高超声非线性成像的灵敏度及分辨率。     

非线性声参量成像及其在医学诊断中应用

本文介绍了我们对于反射模式非线性参量B／A的成像技术的研究结果，包括：(1)基于二次谐波的非线性参量层析成像(2)基于参量阵差频波的非线性参量层析成像(3)非线性参量的等深度C-扫成像。利用这三种成像方法对多种生物组织，特别对正常和病变的生物组织进行非线性参量成像。结果表明，非线性声参量成像可以比线性声参量更容易地判别生物组织的病理状态，从而展示了它在医学超声诊断中的应用前景。