THE APPLICANT PROPOSES AN INVESTIGATION OF FEASIBILITY OF A PULSE-ECHO ULTRASOUND DATA-ACQUISITION PULSER-RECEIVER WHICHWOULD GATHER INFORMATION SUITABLE TO PRODUCE CONVENTIONAL TWO-DIMENSIONAL REAL-TIME IMAGES AND ALSO HAVE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

THE APPLICANT PROPOSES AN INVESTIGATION OF FEASIBILITY OF A PULSE-ECHO ULTRASOUND DATA-ACQUISITION PULSER-RECEIVER WHICHWOULD GATHER INFORMATION SUITABLE TO PRODUCE CONVENTIONAL TWO-DIMENSIONAL REAL-TIME IMAGES AND ALSO HAVE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTENT LEADING TO TWO-DIMENSIONAL SIMULTANEOUS BLOOD FLOW IMAGING AS COLOR ENHANCEMENT FEATURES. A PROTOTYPE OF A TWO CHANNEL PULSER-RECEIVER, SENSITIVE TO STATIONARY ANATOMIC ECHOES AND TO BLOOD FLOW ECHOES, WILL BEBUILT AND EVALUATED ON A STANDARDIZED ULTRASOUND PHANTOM. AN ESSENTIAL FEATURE OF THIS SYSTEM IS THAT THE CONVENTIONALDYNAMIC RANGE OF 30DB WILL BE EXTENDED TO AT LEAST 50DB SO THAT BOTH ECHOES CAN BE SIMULTANEOUSLY DIGITIZED. BENEFITS THAT WILL BE DERIVED FROM THIS RESEARCH INCLUDE: (1) DIFERENTIATION OF BILE DUCTS FROM BLOOD VESSELS. (2) QUANTITATIVE BLOOD FLOW MEASUREMENTS FROM FROZEN COLOR ENCODED IMAGES. (3) DIFFERENTIATION OF ARTERIES FROM VEINS. PHASER ULTRASOUND SYSTEMS WILL BE MANUFACTURED BY THE APPLICANT'S COMPANY AND SOLD WITH HARDWARE/SOFTWARE POST-PROCESSING SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE LAYOUTS.