Academic-Industrial Partnership for Translation of Acoustic Angiography

描述（由申请人提供）：该项目支持两个学术机构和一个工业合作伙伴之间的研究伙伴关系，以开发和翻译一种新的高分辨率对比超声模式。微泡超声造影剂可以在其共振附近被激发以产生高频宽带内容。然而，直到最近共同研究人员Paul Dayton和F. Stuart Foster的合作，利用这种现象的超宽带换能器才出现。在我们之前的合作中，我们开发了一种原型机械扫描双频换能器技术，使造影剂在其共振（2-5 MHz）附近被激发，其宽带内容在15-45 MHz之间被检测到。这种换能器技术的实现使对比度增强超声成像具有前所未有的分辨率和对比度噪声比。用这种方法获得的图像描绘了微血管结构和模式的图像，没有来自组织的背景信号-这就是为什么我们现在称之为“声学血管造影术”。Dayton博士进一步将这项技术应用于几个临床前环境，并证明了声学血管造影在癌症成像中具有重要的实用性-能够以高灵敏度检测血管密度和血管形态，已知与肿瘤恶性相关的生物标志物。初步数据表明，声学血管造影可以通过评估微血管指纹来区分健康组织和肿瘤组织。因此，该项目的目标是进一步发展这种新的成像方法——声学血管造影，并推动其转化为临床和临床前应用（其中有许多在肿瘤学研究中）。为此，我们需要设计一种双频线阵超声换能器，并将其与商用成像系统集成。因此，我们的项目如下：共同研究者Stuart Foster的团队是高频换能器设计和一般超声成像领域的专家，他们将根据Dayton团队的初步数据设计双频阵列系统。世界高频超声系统的领导者Visual sonic公司的工业合作伙伴将利用他们的最新技术

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project supports a research partnership between two academic institutions and an industrial collaborator to develop and translate a new high-resolution contrast ultrasound modality. Microbubble ultrasound contrast agents can be excited near their resonance to produce very high-frequency broadband content. However, until a recent collaboration between co-investigators Paul Dayton and F. Stuart Foster, transducers with the ultra-wide bandwidth to take advantage of this phenomenon have not existed. In our previous collaboration, we have developed a prototype mechanically-scanned dual-frequency transducer technology which enables contrast agents to be excited near their resonance (2-5 MHz) and their broadband content to be detected between 15-45 MHz. The implementation of this transducer technology has enabled contrast enhanced ultrasound imaging with unprecedented resolution and contrast to noise ratio. The images obtained with this method depict images of microvascular structure and pattern, without background signal from tissue - which is why we now refer to it as "Acoustic Angiography". Dr. Dayton has furthermore applied this technology in several pre-clinical settings, and demonstrated that Acoustic Angiography has substantial utility in cancer imaging - being able to detect with high sensitivity both vascular density and vascular morphology, biomarkers which are known to correlate with tumor malignancy. Preliminary data has demonstrated that Acoustic Angiography can differentiate healthy from tumor-bearing tissue by assessing the microvascular fingerprint alone. It is thus the goal of this project to further develop this new imaging approach, Acoustic Angiography, and propel its translation both into the clinic and for pre-clinical applications (of which there are mny in oncology research). In order to do this, we need to design a dual frequency linear array ultrasound transducer, and integrate it with a commercial imaging system. Thus, our project is as follows: Co-Investigator Stuart Foster's group, experts in the field of high frequency transducer design as well as general ultrasound imaging, will design the dual frequency array system based on preliminary data from the Dayton group. Industrial collaborators at Visual Sonics, Inc, the world leader in high-frequency ultrasound systems, will utilize their state-of-the art fabrication transducer facilities to construct the transducers. Drs. Dayton and Foster will evaluate the prototypes in vitro and in-vivo, using a custom research (Verasonics) ultrasound system, and provide feedback to Visual Sonics. The prototype transducer will be software and hardware integrated into the Vevo 2100, a commercial high-frequency array based ultrasound system. Finally, the final system will be evaluated in a clinical cancer imaging study at UNC Chapel Hill with clinical collaborators Dr. Lee and Kuzmiak. In summary, this academic-industrial partnership will develop the hardware and software required to translate a promising new ultrasound imaging technology, Acoustic Angiography, to the clinic.