Whole Cross-Sectional Human Ultrasound Tomography

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel ultrasound tomography system capable of imaging the entire cross-section of the human body in vivo, providing uniform resolution and enabling new clinical applications like adipose tissue assessment and real-time biopsy guidance.

Contribution

The paper presents a new system for whole cross-sectional human ultrasound tomography using a circular array and rotation, addressing limitations of traditional handheld ultrasound.

Findings

Successful imaging of entire human cross-sections in vivo.

Ability to assess adipose tissue distribution without radiation.

Real-time biopsy needle localization at 30 fps.

Abstract

Ultrasonography is a vital component of modern clinical care, with handheld probes routinely used for diagnostic imaging and procedural guidance. However, handheld ultrasound imaging is limited by factors such as the partial-cross-sectional field of view, operator dependency, contact-induced distortion, and lack of transmission contrast. Here, we demonstrate a new system enabling whole cross-sectional ultrasound tomography of humans in reflection and transmission modes. We generate 2D images of the entire in vivo human cross-section with uniform in-plane resolution using a custom 512-element circular ultrasound receiver array and a rotating ultrasonic transmitter. We demonstrate this technique in regions such as the abdomen and legs in healthy volunteers. To address unmet clinical needs, we explore two key applications. First, we readily observe abdominal adipose distributions in our images, enabling adipose thickness assessment over the body without ionizing radiation or mechanical deformation. Second, we demonstrate an approach for video-rate (30 frame-per-second) biopsy needle localization with respect to internal tissue features. These capabilities make whole cross-sectional ultrasound tomography a potential practical tool for clinical needs not currently met by other modalities.