Ultrasound based multiphysics imaging modalities: modelling, analysis and biomedical applications

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This proposal is about the development of new methods to study biological tissues and fluids using image modeling and analysis for multiphysics-based imaging modalities. By multiphysics-based imaging it is meant imaging modalities exploiting the fact that two physical effects either co-exist or interact with each other so that together they provide a new window to observe the biological tissue or fluid. Three examples we propose to study are given. A first example would be the observation of the electric field generated by a tissue in a magnetic field while the tissue is being simultaneously insonified.  Here the ultrasound would set ions in motion, and ions in motion in a magnetic field produce the observed electric potential distribution; this distribution is therefore a spatio-temporal signal determined by the emitted acoustic signal, the acoustic properties of the medium, the electrical properties of the tissue and the generated magnetic field itself. A second example uses acousto-optic interactions. Here an ultrasound signal is used to modulate an optical signal that propagates in the tissue. With appropriated time-gating the modulated optical signal is identified as being issued from a specific tissue region. The third example concerns the use of acoustic radiation force to deform a tissue and determine its stiffness using speckle motion estimation. Here the physics of continuum mechanics coupled to acoustics.   The purpose of this research is ultimately to assess certain fundamental physical properties of biological materials. To develop this approach, the research project is divided in three parts: image formation modeling, signal analysis and phantom experiments. The method is anticipated to provide a significant advance in medical ultrasonic imaging and may have potential applications in other engineering areas that involve a coherent imaging modality such as radar and laser imaging.