Ultrasonic spectroscopy system for biomedical material and tissue characterization

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An ultrasonic spectroscopy system will be constructed with an ultrasonic pulser/receiver and mechanical translation stages purchased by this research grant. The system will be designed and constructed by the applicant. It supports applicant's Discovery Grant (DG) research program (2007-2011), entitled "Piezoelectric and ultrasonic sensors and techniques for non-invasive biomedical monitoring and diagnosis". In the DG program, ultrasonic probes, algorithms, digital signal processing techniques, and computer software for the construction of ultrasonic images from the measured elastic properties of biological tissues are developed. Viscoelastic properties of biomedical materials and tissues generally depend on ultrasonic frequency and temperature. Thus, measurement of their complex elastic constants using ultrasonic longitudinal and shear waves with simultaneous measurement of temperature is desired for accurate evaluation of their viscoelasitc properties. The ultrasonic spectroscopy system constructed with this grant will be used to create a database of viscoelastic properties of biomedical materials and tissues by measuring their ultrasonic propagation characteristics as functions of ultrasonic frequency and temperature with probes and techniques developed by the applicant. Such a database could provide useful information which can be used for elastic imaging of tissues, clinical diagnosis of diseased tissues, tissue characterization and development of new biomedical materials. Furthermore, tissue properties as a function of temperature will provide a tool to investigate a degree of cure in hyperthermia which is one of promising techniques for cancer treatments.