title: A novel dual-frequency imaging method for intravascular ultrasound applications.
abstract: Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), which is able to delineate internal structures of vessel wall with fine spatial resolution, has greatly enriched the knowledge of coronary atherosclerosis. A novel dual-frequency imaging method is proposed in this paper for intravascular imaging applications. A probe combined two ultrasonic transducer elements with different center frequencies (36 MHz and 78 MHz) is designed and fabricated with PMN-PT single crystal material. It has the ability to balance both imaging depth and resolution, which are important imaging parameters for clinical test. A dual-channel imaging platform is also proposed for real-time imaging, and this platform has been proven to support programmable processing algorithms, flexible imaging control, and raw RF data acquisition for IVUS applications. Testing results show that the -6 dB axial and lateral imaging resolutions of low-frequency ultrasound are 78 and 132 μm, respectively. In terms of high-frequency ultrasound, axial and lateral resolutions are determined to be as high as 34 and 106 μm. In vitro intravascular imaging on healthy swine aorta is conducted to demonstrate the performance of the dual-frequency imaging method for IVUS applications.
authors.affiliation: Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Institute of Biomedical and Health Engineering, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China.
authors.forename: Weibao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen 518057, China; Department of Applied Physics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen 518057, China; Department of Applied Physics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Chi-Man
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Institute of Biomedical and Health Engineering, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China.
authors.forename: Baoqiang
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen 518057, China; Department of Applied Physics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China. Electronic address: jiyan.dai@polyu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Jiyan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Institute of Biomedical and Health Engineering, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China. Electronic address: hr.zheng@siat.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Hairong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001011:Aorta / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D012016:Reference Values; D013552:Swine; D014159:Transducers; D018084:Ultrasonography, Interventional / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Cardiovascular disease; Dual-channel imaging platform; Dual-frequency imaging; Intravascular ultrasound