Ultrasound

Peter NT Wells, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

Published online: September 2005

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0004076

Nonionizing ultrasonic radiation penetrates biological soft tissues. Ultrasound that is scattered, attenuated and Doppler-frequency-shifted by tissues and contrast agents can be detected and processed safely to create one-, two- and three-dimensional images of structure and function, often in real time.

Keywords: imaging; pulse-echo; Doppler; bioeffects; function; structure

Figure 1. Diagram showing the general principles of ultrasonic imaging.
Figure 2. Ultrasonic scanning in progress.
Figure 3. Ultrasonic colour flow image of blood vessels in the neck, showing stenosis of the internal carotid artery by an atherosclerotic plaque.
Figure 4. Three-dimensional ultrasonic scan of a 12-week fetus in utero.
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 References
    book Duck FA (1990) Physical Properties of Tissue, pp. 73–135. London: Academic Press.
    book Goldberg BB (1991) "History of US". In: Rifkin MD (ed.) Ultrasound 1991, pp. 9–32. Oak Brook: Radiological Society of North America.
    Hadjicostis AN, Hottinger CF, Rosen JJ and Wells PNT (1984) Ultrasonic transducer materials for medical applications. Ferroelectrics 60: 107–126.
    Hope-Simpson D, Chin PN and Burns PN (1999) Pulse inversion Doppler: a new method for detecting nonlinear echoes from microbubble contrast agents. IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control 46: 372–382.
    book Kremkau FW (1998) Diagnostic Ultrasound, 5th edn, pp. 79–128. Philadelphia PA: Saunders.
    Nelson TR and Pretorius DH (1998) Three-dimensional ultrasound imaging. Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology 24: 1243–1270.
    proceedings Ophir J, Alam SK, Garra B et al. (1999) Elastography: ultrasonic estimation and imaging of the elastic properties of tissues. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine 23: 203–233.
    Tranquart F, Grenier N, Eder V and Pourcelot L (1999) Clinical use of ultrasound tissue harmonic imaging. Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology 25: 889–894.
    Wells PNT (1986) The prudent use of diagnostic ultrasound. British Journal of Radiology 59: 1143–1151.
    Wells PNT (1989) Doppler ultrasound in medical diagnosis. British Journal of Radiology 62: 399–420.
    Wells PNT (1994) Ultrasonic colour flow imaging. Physics in Medicine and Biology 39: 2113–2145.
    Wells PNT and Halliwell M (1981) Speckle in ultrasonic imaging. Ultrasonics 19: 225–229.
    Wells PNT, Harris RA and Halliwell M (1992) The envelope that tissue imposes on achievable ultrasonic imaging. Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine 11: 433–439.
 Further Reading
    book Evans DH, McDicken WN, Skidmore R and Woodcock JP (1989) Doppler Ultrasound: Physics, Instrumentation and Clinical Applications. Chichester, UK: Wiley.
    book Fish P (1990) Physics and Instrumentation of Diagnostic Medical Ultrasound. Chichester, UK: Wiley.
    book ter Haar G and Duck FA (2000) The Safe Use of Ultrasound in Medical Diagnosis. London: British Medical Ultrasound Society/British Institute of Radiology.
    Holm HH and Skjoldbye B (1996) Interventional ultrasound. Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology 22: 773–789.
    book McGahan, JP and Goldberg BB (eds) (1997) Diagnostic Ultrasound: A Logical Approach. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott-Raven.
    book Taylor KJW, Burns PN and Wells PNT (eds) (1995) Clinical Applications of Doppler Ultrasound, 2nd edn. New York: Raven Press.
    book Wells PNT (1977) Biomedical Ultrasonics. London: Academic Press.
    book Wells PNT (1978) "History". In: de Vlieger M, Holmes JH and Kazner E et al. (eds) Handbook of Clinical Ultrasound, pp. 3–13. New York: Wiley.
    book Wells PNT (1997) "Sound waves: ultrasonography". In: van Schulthess GK and Hennig J (eds) Functional Imaging, pp. 433–463. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott-Raven.
    Wells PNT (1999) Ultrasonic imaging of the human body. Reports on Progress in Physics 62: 671–722.

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Article Title: Ultrasound
 
How to Cite close
Wells, Peter NT(Sep 2005) Ultrasound. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0004076]