Essentials of Ultrasound Imaging

Essentials of Ultrasound Imaging is an introduction to all aspects of acquiring and measuring pulse-echo data to form images.

The book provides in-depth exploration of key physical processes, including wave propagation and interaction with physical media, piezoelectric transducers, arrays, and beam formation, and concludes with a survey of advanced topics in ultrasound. Uniquely, principles are revealed by examples from software simulation programs designed to demonstrate ultrasound concepts, and image and signal processing. There are also numerous examples from a Verasonics Vantage Research Ultrasound System to provide unparalleled insight into each step of ultrasound image creation, including signal processing, transducer operation, different types of beamforming, and image formation. The content is organized around a central functional block diagram which is, in turn, related to physical processes and processing involved in clinical and research imaging systems. With a thorough grounding in the fundamentals of physics and methods of ultrasound imaging, readers can better appreciate the introduction of advanced topics and various applications of ultrasound.

• Gives an understanding of wave propagation, piezoelectric transducers, beam focusing, Doppler imaging of fluid flow, types of ultrasound systems, and real-time image formation and resolution
• Explains basic mathematical and scientific concepts underlying ultrasound imaging and physics
• Follows the passage of pulse-echo waveforms through the changes made by wave propagation, array beam formation, absorption, and system processing to image formation
• Describes the concepts written in MATLAB® that are illustrated by numerous examples from unique simulations of physics, processing, and imaging and from experiments and signals within an ultrasound research system
• Presents an accompanying simulator software package, in executable form, designed to demonstrate concepts with minimal mathematical background, together with a curriculum of hands-on experiments using an ultrasound research system, both available from Verasonics

Professor Szabo has contributed to the fundamental understanding and design of surface acoustic wave signal processing devices, to novel means of transduction and measurement for nondestructive evaluation using ultrasound, to seismic signal processing, and to the research and development of state-of-the-art diagnostic ultrasound imaging systems for over fifty years. He is the author of the widely used textbook, Diagnostic Ultrasound Imaging: Inside Out, over 100 papers and twelve book chapters, and holds four patents and several patent applications. His wide range of interests include ultrasound tissue and spine characterization, wave equations, novel imaging systems, brain imaging, therapeutic ultrasound, nonlinear phenomena and geophysical exploration. Dr. Szabo is a Fellow of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, Acoustical Society of America, and a Life Senior member of the IEEE. He is a U.S. delegate to the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), Technical Committee 87 and a Convenor of Working Group 6 on high intensity therapeutic ultrasound and focusing. He was a recipient of a 1973 U. S. Meritorious Service Medal, a Hewlett Packard Fellowship and the 1974 best paper award in the IEEE Transactions on Sonics and Ultrasonics.

Peter Kaczkowski is a Technical Fellow with Verasonics, Inc., currently working on development of Ultrasound-guided Focused Ultrasound systems, novel imaging applications, and providing education and training. He obtained his BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado in Boulder, an MS in Exploration Geophysics from the Colorado School of Mines, and a PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington. As a researcher at the University of Washington, he worked in HIFU therapy planning, guidance, delivery, and assessment using ultrasound methods. His work ranged from instrumentation development to in vitro and preclinical studies, with a primary emphasis on ultrasound thermometry for real-time monitoring of thermal therapies. Other research included acoustic metrology of high intensity fields, study of HIFU-induced bioeffects in the context of thermal ablation, and signal processing for tissue characterization. Prior work in scattering theory emphasized simulation of acoustic propagation, especially in random media. He is a co-inventor on several patents at the University of Washington and at Verasonics.