Polyimide-Based Conformal Ultrasound Transducer Array for Needle Guidance

Author

Culjat, Martin O. ; Bennett, David B. ; Lee, Michael ; Brown, Elliott R. ; Lee, Hua ; Grundfest, Warren S. ; Singh, Rahul S.

Author_Institution

Center for Adv. Surg. & Interventional Technol. (CASIT), Univ. of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Volume

9

Issue

10

fYear

2009

Firstpage

1244

Lastpage

1245

Abstract

A conformal ultrasound imaging system has been developed that may potentially decrease the user variability associated with operation of rigid transducer-based medical ultrasound systems. Conformal transducer arrays were built and characterized, featuring bulk piezoelectric elements mounted on an array of silicon islands, connected with flexible polyimide joints. The joints successfully supported electrodes while bending, and were sufficiently soft to enable both conformation to body surfaces and needle insertion for ultrasound guidance procedures. A signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 39 dB was achieved from a needle target in a soft tissue phantom. A space-time backward propagation image reconstruction algorithm was simulated to demonstrate needle detection using a conformal transducer with an arbitrary array architecture.

Keywords

biomedical ultrasonics; image reconstruction; object detection; polymer films; ultrasonic imaging; ultrasonic transducer arrays; SNR; arbitrary array architecture; bending; body surface conformation; bulk piezoelectric element; conformal ultrasound imaging system; conformal ultrasound transducer array; electrode; flexible polyimide joint; medical ultrasound system; needle guidance; needle insertion; signal-to-noise ratio; silicon island array; soft tissue phantom; space-time backward propagation image reconstruction algorithm; ultrasound guidance procedure; user variability; Biomedical electrodes; Biomedical imaging; Biomedical transducers; Needles; Piezoelectric transducers; Polyimides; Silicon; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasonic transducer arrays; Ultrasonic transducers; Conformal; flexible structures; polyimide film; transducer array; ultrasound imaging system;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Sensors Journal, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1530-437X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JSEN.2009.2030270

Filename

5230373