Models for testing contemporary ultrasound systems

• Main Author: Joy, Joyce
• Published: University of Dundee 2016
• Subjects: 616.07
• Online Access: https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.681478

Medical ultrasound systems are undergoing continuous development. Five areas of particular recent interest are shear wave elastography, interventional ultrasound, microultrasound, and therapeutic ultrasound. These new developments motivate demand for new tissue models. The work discussed in this thesis presents different tissue models for these areas of contemporary ultrasound systems development. Acoustic test objects, known as phantoms, are the most widely used basis for testing medical ultrasound systems, but they have many limitations. Hence, the recent advancement in medical simulation, soft-embalmed Thiel human cadaver models being considered for their suitability as a model for testing shear wave elastography and interventional ultrasound systems. The results indicate significant similarities between the Thiel-embalmed cadavers, and human's in-vivo tissues in relation to their tissue stiffness measured with SWE. The use of these cadaveric models has also shown to bring benefits for interventional ultrasound systems testing and research. This is demonstrated with two specific case studies on ultrasound guided regional anaesthesia. Another aspect considered in this work is the suitability of Thiel-embalmed human breast tissues for testing therapeutic ultrasound systems. The results indicate that these models are unsuitable for therapeutic ultrasound systems testing because of their inability to produce lesions during sonication which can be seen visually or under histopathological examination. For testing microultrasound systems, mice preserved with the Thiel method have been assessed and shown to be a suitable model because of its small size, reusability and easier accessibility. This thesis has assessed the use of preserved human and animal tissue models for testing contemporary ultrasound systems.