Investigation of the suitability of tissue phantoms for testing the constancy of ultrasonic transducer arrays in quality assurance

Ultraschall in der Medizin : Organ der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Ultraschall in der Medizin, [der] Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Ultraschall in der Medizin, [der] Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Ultraschall in Medizin und Biologie
E RosenfeldE Liebscher

Abstract

To ensure high quality ultrasound diagnostics, proper functioning of the devices used is a necessary prerequisite. Ultrasound transducers have proven to be the most failure-prone part of the signal chain. Their technical monitoring is possible in principle with the help of tissue phantoms. The background of the present study is to determine which type of phantoms and which measurement parameters are best suited to a consistency test as part of routine quality assurance of ultrasound imaging systems. A classic wire-type phantom (ATS Mod. 539, ATS Labs Bridgeport, USA) and a 3 D cyst phantom (TCC, Timelkam, Austria) were used for the studies and comparative tests were conducted between intact transducers and those in which faults had been simulated. The collected measurement data show a relatively large scatter. Therefore, statistical analysis methods were used, and the discrimination analysis proved to be a useful tool. Local failures which arise, e. g. due to the breakdown of individual piezoelectric elements or element groups in the transducer array, can be detected with the help of the gray value targets of the ATS phantom, but only in those cases in which the error-affected sound field part actually overlaps with the target ...Continue Reading

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