High-frequency chirp ultrasound imaging with an annular array for ophthalmologic and small-animal imaging

High-frequency ultrasound (HFU, >20 MHz) is an attractive means of obtaining fine-resolution images of biological tissues for ophthalmologic, dermatological and small-animal imaging applications. Even with current improvements in circuit designs and high-frequency equipment, HFU has two inherent limitations. First, HFU images have a limited depth-of-field (DOF) because of the short wavelength and the low fixed F-number of conventional HFU transducers. Second, HFU is usually limited to shallow imaging because of the significant attenuation in most tissues. In a previous study, a five-element annular array with a 17-MHz center frequency was excited using chirp-coded signals, and a synthetic-focusing algorithm was used to extend the DOF and increase penetration depth. In the present study, a similar approach with two different five-element annular arrays operating near a center frequency of 35 MHz is implemented and validated. Following validation studies, the chirp-imaging methods were applied to imaging vitreous-hemorrhage-mimicking phantoms and mouse embryos. Images of the vitreous phantom showed increased sensitivity using the chirp method compared with a standard monocycle imaging method, and blood droplets could be visualized 4mm deeper into the phantom. Three-dimensional datasets of 12.5-day-old mouse embryo heads were acquired in utero using chirp and conventional excitations. Images were formed and brain ventricles were segmented and reconstructed in three dimensions. The brain ventricle volumes for the monocycle excitation exhibited artifacts that were not apparent on the chirp-based dataset reconstruction.