SUMMARY:
UCLA researchers in the Departments of Head and Neck Surgery, Bioengineering, and Electrical Engineering have developed a novel ultrasound-based imaging modality, vibroacoustography.
BACKGROUND:
Most of the current intra-operative tissue discrimination methods rely on palpation, due to various limitations of the existing imaging methods. Therefore, there is a need for quantitative tissue boundary identification methods that can help improve the precision of surgical procedures.
INNOVATION:
UCLA researchers have developed a non-invasive dual-frequency ultrasound imaging modality, vibroacoustography, that allows the quantitative identification of margins between tissues with different mechanical properties. This novel method offers many advantages over the existing ultrasound-based imaging modalities, including higher resolution, higher contrast, and greater penetration depths. Therefore, it is suitable to be utilized to enhance the precision of relevant surgical procedures.
POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS:
• Intra-operative identification of tissue boundaries
ADVANTAGES:
• Real-time imaging
• High resolution
• High contrast images
• Enhanced penetration depths
• Lower cost