Visualizing Functional Microbubbles using Ultrasound Imaging

Short Description

Over the past 15 years, microbubbles have emerged as an appealing contrast agent for ultrasound imaging. They are typically composed of a thin shell – often a lipid monolayer – that is surrounding and stabilizing a gas core. Image contrast derives from nonlinear backscattering of acoustic waves upon exposure to acoustic pressure - a result of microbubble size oscillation that depends on microbubble size and other properties. We aim to design a process to detect differences in acoustic responses of functional microbubbles using an ultrasound imaging probe.

Goal & Tasks

The goal of the project is to design an imaging mode that can visualize different functional microbubbles within an ultrasound image. The main tasks of this project are:

• Literature study of current microbubble imaging techniques
• Design an imaging technique for our given setup
• Verify the designed technique using simulations
• Implement the designed technique on one of our ultrasound imaging systems
• Verify the designed technique in an in-vitro setup

Prerequisites

• Signal processing basics
• VLSI 1 / Microcontroller experience (only in case of a Master Theis)

Status: Available

Looking for Interested Students

Supervision: Pascal Hager

Character

40% Ultrasound Simulations (including training dataset generation)

40% Simulations of the Imaging Process

20% Evaluations

+200% Implementation (only for Master Thesis)

Professor

Luca Benini

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