Resolution limitations in intravascular ultrasound imaging

Author

Benkeser, P.J. ; Lee, C.K. ; Churchwell, A.L. ; Abouelnasr, D.M.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. Eng., Georgia Inst. of Technol., Atlanta, GA, USA

fYear

1991

fDate

8-11 Dec 1991

Firstpage

1151

Abstract

Interest in the use of ultrasound to characterize the structure and composition of blood vessel walls has risen dramatically as a result of the development of intravascular ultrasonic (IVUS) imaging transducers mounted on the tips of small-diameter catheters. However, there have been conflicting reports on the capabilities of IVUS in visualizing fine structures, such as layers of the arterial wall. Theoretical and experimental studies of the resolution of the two principal designs of IVUS transducers are described. Comparisons of the two designs reveal that they have similar resolutions. However, these resolutions are shown to decrease linearly with increasing radial distance. Significant errors in image interpretation will result if this variation in resolution is not accounted for

Keywords

acoustic imaging; biomedical ultrasonics; arterial wall layers; blood vessel walls; fire structures visualization; image interpretation; intravascular ultrasound imaging; medical diagnostic imaging; resolution limitations; small-diameter catheters; Biomedical imaging; Catheters; Clinical trials; Image analysis; Image resolution; Lesions; Morphology; Piezoelectric transducers; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasonic transducers;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Ultrasonics Symposium, 1991. Proceedings., IEEE 1991

Conference_Location

Orlando, FL

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ULTSYM.1991.234297

Filename

234297