Harmonic Imaging Using a Mechanical Sector, B-MODE

HARMONIC IMAGING USING A MECHANICAL SECTOR, B-MODE ULTRASOUND SYSTEM by Danna Gurari ADVISOR: Dr. William D. Richard August 2005 Saint Louis Missouri An ultrasound imaging system includes transmitting ultrasound waves into a human body, collecting the reflections, manipulating the reflections, and then displaying them on computer screen as a grayscale image. The standard approach for ultrasound imaging is to use the fundamental frequency from the reflected signal to form images. However, it has been shown that images generated using the harmonic content have improved resolution as well as reduced noise, resulting in clearer images. Although harmonic imaging has been shown to return improved images, this has never been shown with a B-mode, mechanical sector ultrasound system. In this thesis, we demonstrated such a system. First there is a discussion of the theory of harmonic imaging, then a description of the ultrasound system used, and finally experimental results. to my parents, Shaula and Eitan Gurari