High-frequency high frame rate ultrasound Imaging system for small animal Imaging with linear Arrays

Due to the fast heart rate of a mouse greater than 400 beats/min, cardiovascular research utilizing mice requires imaging modalities with high frame rate capability (>100 Frames/sec), which cannot be realized by Micro-CT and Micro-PET at present. High-frequency ultrasound imaging, on the other hand, is capable of achieving a better spatial resolution at an affordable price. In this paper, we report the development of a high-frequency high frame rate ultrasound imaging system using 30 similar to 35MHz linear arrays. The system includes 64 pulsers, 16 1:4 De-multiplexers, 16 4:1 multiplexers, 16-channel TGC amplifiers, an analog beamforming board, a microprocessor (89S8252), a 500MS/s 8-bit PCI A/D card and a PC supported by Labview based software. The system can display 30 images per second and acquire over 100 images per second for slow motion playback with 30MHz 48 element linear arrays. Tissue mimicking phantoms were used to assess image quality. Rabbit eye images and mouse heart images have been obtained in vitro and in vivo to demonstrate the potential of this system in biomedical applications.