Abstract: To overcome the frame-rate limitations on standard clinical ultrasound systems, we developed an automated method for retrospective, multi-sector ultrasound imaging through synchronized electrocardiogram (ECG) gating. The method achieved 64 beam density and a frame rate of 481 Hz at an imaging depth of 11 cm and a 100% field of view. Composite, full-view frames were reconstructed through retrospective combination of seven 20% juxtaposed sectors using an ECG-gating technique. The axial displacement of the left ventricle of healthy human subjects, in both long-axis and short-axis views, and that of the abdominal aorta, in a long-axis view, were estimated using a RF-based speckle tracking technique. The electromechanical wave and the pulse wave propagation were imaged in a ciné-loop using the proposed imaging technique. Abnormal patterns of such wave propagation can be severed as indicators of early cardiovascular disease, such as myocardial ischemia or infarction, arrhythmia, abdominal aortic aneurysms and early-stage atherosclerosis.
Shougang Wang was born in Heilongjiang province, P.R. CHINA in 1976. He received his B.S. degree from Tsinghua University CHINA and M.S. degree from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, CHINA in 1998 and 2001, respectively. In 2006, he received his Ph.D. degree from Brown University, USA. His research interests include ultrasonic vibration potential imaging, ultrasound imaging, cardiac elasticity imaging, and ultrasound aided drug delivery through the blood brain barrier opening. He was a postdoctoral research scientist in ultrasound and elasticity imaging laboratory at Columbia University, New York, NY from 2006 to 2008. Currently Dr. Wang joined national semiconductor as an ultrasound system engineer.