Three dimensional endoscopic image of a blood vessel using high frequency ultrasound

This paper describes a high frequency ultrasound (US) imaging system for observation of small tissues and a virtual endoscopic image of a blood vessel. This system consists of a US probe with a central frequency of 32 MHz, a microscope table designed to collect some slices of US brightness mode (B-mode) images, a transmitter containing control logic and a receiver circuit and a personal computer (PC) with an analog to digital (AD) converter. First, US B-mode images with high spatial resolution were obtained by shifting a measurement plane at a constant step of 0.075 mm. Second, three-dimensional (3-D) image reconstruction was performed with Linear interpolation and a volume rendering technique. Finally, the point of view of the 3-D image was set in the human body and a virtual endoscopic image was presented. The experimental results present a blood vessel as if an ultrasound probe were inserted in it and reveal the anatomical structure under skin.