High-resolution imaging with a real-time synthetic aperture ultrasound system: A phantom study

It is difficult for ultrasound to image small targets such as breast microcalcifications. Synthetic aperture ultrasound imaging has recently developed as a promising tool to improve the capabilities of medical ultrasound. We use two different tissue-equivalent phantoms to study the imaging capabilities of a real-time synthetic aperture ultrasound system for imaging small targets. The InnerVision ultrasound system DAS009 is an investigational system for real-time synthetic aperture ultrasound imaging. We use the system to image the two phantoms, and compare the images with those obtained from clinical scanners Acuson Sequoia 512 and Siemens S2000. Our results show that synthetic aperture ultrasound imaging produces images with higher resolution and less image artifacts than Acuson Sequoia 512 and Siemens S2000. In addition, we study the effects of sound speed on synthetic aperture ultrasound imaging and demonstrate that an accurate sound speed is very important for imaging small targets.