Ultrasonic measure of the formation of bubbles in tissue for decompression sickness

The goal of this project is to provide a novel ultrasonic measurement of the onset of bubble formation in tissue to help counteract decompression sickness. This capability will revolutionize our understanding of DCS, ultimately leading to improved methods for counteracting the effects of DCS in divers and during disabled submarine rescue attempts. Widespread use of this important new research tool by the Navy Undersea Medicine research community will be rapidly achieved by providing this capability as a software enhancement to Luna's commercially available Emboli Detection and Classification (EDACTM) instrument. Luna's approach will provide a significant advancement over current imaging technology by utilizing the backscattered waveforms to determine the onset of bubble formation and to ultimately quantify the size and number per volume of bubbles. The analysis and relationship to bubble scatterer size and number per volume is similar to measurements that have been performed in bubbles, solids and slurries and the relationships are well known. Applying these techniques for bubble detection in tissue will be the main goal of the Phase I work.