DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT

THE LONG-TERM OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP A PROTOTYPE SCANNING SYSTEM FROM WHICH NOVEL AND ADVANCED ULTRASOUND SCANNING SYSTEMS CAN BE MANUFACTURED FOR THE IMAGING, TISSUE CHARACTERIZATION, AND DIAGNOSIS OF CANCER AND OTHER DISEASES. IT WILL GIVE SUPERIOR IMAGES OF OBSTETRICAL CONDITIONS, VASCULAR DISEASE, LIVER DISEASE, ANDOTHER ABDOMINAL CONDITIONS. THIS ADVANCED SYSTEM IS BASED ON EXTENDING THE CAPABILITIES OF A NEW IMAGING METHOD THAT TECHNI SCAN, INC., HAS DEVELOPED AND TESTED, CALLED ACOUSTICINVERSE-SCATTERING TOMOGRAPHY. THIS METHOD PROVIDES ACCURATE, HIGH-RESOLUTION, QUANTITATIVE IMAGES OF THE SPEED OF SOUND, DENSITY, ABSORPTION, ACOUSTIC IMPEDANCE, AND COMPRESSIBILITY. THE SCANNER WILL ALSO SUPPORT A HIGH-RESOLUTION, SYNTHETIC-FOCUSING REFLECTION MODE CAPABLE OF FOUR TO SIX TIMES THE SPATIAL RESOLUTION OF PRESENT SCANNERS. THE INVERSE-SCATTERING IMAGES OF THE SPEED OF SOUND AND ABSORPTION WILL ALLOW CORRECTION OF THE SYNTHETIC-FOCUS IMAGES FOR REFRACTION AND ABSORPTION ARTIFACTS. THE SCANNER WILL ALSO HAVE A REAL-TIME SEARCH-IMAGING MODE WITH SPATIAL RESOLUTION EQUAL TO OR BETTER THAN THAT OF PRESENT SCANNERS. THE SCANNER ARCHITECTURE WILL MAKE IT POSSIBLE TOADD COMPONENTS TO USE THE ABOVE MODES SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH TRUE BLOOD-FLOW VECTOR VELOCITY IMAGING.