Ultrasound Probe Acceptance Testing Using the In-Air Reverberation Pattern

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Ultrasound Technology
• Quality Assurance

Background:

• In-air reverberation patterns are a standard method for routine ultrasound probe quality assurance.
• Assessing these patterns at acceptance is crucial for ensuring probe performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the in-air reverberation pattern assessment at probe acceptance.
• To validate this method using comprehensive testing techniques.
• To identify and quantify anomalies in new ultrasound probes.

Main Methods:

• Assessed uniformity of in-air reverberation patterns for deviations from expected appearance.
• Referred anomalous patterns to the supplier for further investigation.
• Utilized a FirstCall electronic probe tester and image quality tests with tissue-mimicking objects for validation.

Main Results:

• Over five years, 13.7% of 233 new probes exhibited anomalous in-air reverberation patterns.
• Identified anomalies included element dropout, atypical dropout, non-parallel reverberations, and brightness discontinuities.
• Objective validation revealed non-uniformities in sensitivity, pulse width, center frequency, and bandwidth.

Conclusions:

• Anomalous in-air reverberation patterns in new ultrasound probes indicate underlying defects.
• Comprehensive testing confirms the presence of non-uniformities in probe performance.
• Probes with unexpected in-air reverberation anomalies should be rejected for clinical use.