Overview of Therapeutic Ultrasound Applications and Safety Considerations: 2024 Update.

A 2012 review of therapeutic ultrasound was published to educate researchers and physicians on potential applications and concerns for unintended bioeffects (doi: 10.7863/jum.2012.

Transcranial volumetric imaging using a conformal ultrasound patch.

Accurate and continuous monitoring of cerebral blood flow is valuable for clinical neurocritical care and fundamental neurovascular research. Transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasonography is a widely used non-invasive method for evaluating cerebral blood flow, but the conventional rigid design severely limits the measurement accuracy of the complex three-dimensional (3D) vascular networks and the practicality for prolonged recording. Here we report a conformal ultrasound patch for hands-free volumetric imaging and continuous monitoring of cerebral blood flow.

Clinical, Safety, and Engineering Perspectives on Wearable Ultrasound Technology: A Review.

Wearable ultrasound has the potential to become a disruptive technology enabling new applications not only in traditional clinical settings, but also in settings where ultrasound is not currently used. Understanding the basic engineering principles and limitations of wearable ultrasound is critical for clinicians, scientists, and engineers to advance potential applications and translate the technology from bench to bedside. Wearable ultrasound devices, especially monitoring devices, have the potential to apply acoustic energy to the body for far longer durations than conventional diagnostic ultrasound systems.

Phantoms for evaluating the impact of skin pigmentation on photoacoustic imaging and oximetry performance.

Recent reports have raised concerns of potential racial disparities in performance of optical oximetry technologies. To investigate how variable epidermal melanin content affects performance of photoacoustic imaging (PAI) devices, we developed plastisol phantoms combining swappable skin-mimicking layers with a breast phantom containing either India ink or blood adjusted to 50-100% SO using sodium dithionite. Increasing skin pigmentation decreased maximum imaging depth by up to 25%, enhanced image clutter, and increased root-mean-square error in SO from 8.

US Backscatter for Liver Fat Quantification: An AIUM-RSNA QIBA Pulse-Echo Quantitative Ultrasound Initiative.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is believed to affect one-third of American adults. Noninvasive methods that enable detection and monitoring of NAFLD have the potential for great public health benefits. Because of its low cost, portability, and noninvasiveness, US is an attractive alternative to both biopsy and MRI in the assessment of liver steatosis.