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Kumar A, Kempski Leadingham KM, Kerensky MJ, Sankar S, Thakor NV, Manbachi A. Visualizing tactile feedback: an overview of current technologies with a focus on ultrasound elastography. FRONTIERS IN MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY 2023; 5:1238129. [PMID: 37854637 PMCID: PMC10579802 DOI: 10.3389/fmedt.2023.1238129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2023] [Accepted: 09/14/2023] [Indexed: 10/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Tissue elasticity remains an essential biomarker of health and is indicative of irregularities such as tumors or infection. The timely detection of such abnormalities is crucial for the prevention of disease progression and complications that arise from late-stage illnesses. However, at both the bedside and the operating table, there is a distinct lack of tactile feedback for deep-seated tissue. As surgical techniques advance toward remote or minimally invasive options to reduce infection risk and hasten healing time, surgeons lose the ability to manually palpate tissue. Furthermore, palpation of deep structures results in decreased accuracy, with the additional barrier of needing years of experience for adequate confidence of diagnoses. This review delves into the current modalities used to fulfill the clinical need of quantifying physical touch. It covers research efforts involving tactile sensing for remote or minimally invasive surgeries, as well as the potential of ultrasound elastography to further this field with non-invasive real-time imaging of the organ's biomechanical properties. Elastography monitors tissue response to acoustic or mechanical energy and reconstructs an image representative of the elastic profile in the region of interest. This intuitive visualization of tissue elasticity surpasses the tactile information provided by sensors currently used to augment or supplement manual palpation. Focusing on common ultrasound elastography modalities, we evaluate various sensing mechanisms used for measuring tactile information and describe their emerging use in clinical settings where palpation is insufficient or restricted. With the ongoing advancements in ultrasound technology, particularly the emergence of micromachined ultrasound transducers, these devices hold great potential in facilitating early detection of tissue abnormalities and providing an objective measure of patient health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Avisha Kumar
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States
- HEPIUS Innovation Lab, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Kelley M. Kempski Leadingham
- HEPIUS Innovation Lab, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
- Department of Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Max J. Kerensky
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States
- HEPIUS Innovation Lab, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Sriramana Sankar
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Nitish V. Thakor
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Amir Manbachi
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States
- HEPIUS Innovation Lab, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
- Department of Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States
- Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
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Zhang T, Zhang W, Shao X, Yang Y, Wang Z, Wu Y, Pei Y. A Study on Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer Periodic Sparse Array. MICROMACHINES 2021; 12:mi12060684. [PMID: 34208152 PMCID: PMC8230818 DOI: 10.3390/mi12060684] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2021] [Revised: 06/07/2021] [Accepted: 06/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) is an ultrasonic transducer based on the microelectromechanical system (MEMS). CMUT elements are easily made into a high-density array, which will increase the hardware complexity. In order to reduce the number of active channels, this paper studies the grating lobes generated by CMUT periodic sparse array (PSA) pairs. Through the design of active element positions in the transmitting and receiving processes, the simulation results of effective aperture and beam patterns show that the common grating lobes (CGLs) generated by the transmit and receive array are eliminated. On the basis of point targets imaging, a CMUT linear array with 256 elements is used to carry out the PSA pairs experiment. Under the same sparse factor (SF), the optimal sparse array configuration can be selected to reduce the imaging artifacts. This conclusion is of great significance for the application of CMUT in three-dimensional ultrasound imaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tian Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Dynamic Testing Technology, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China; (T.Z.); (Y.Y.); (Z.W.); (Y.W.); (Y.P.)
- National Key Laboratory for Electronic Measurement Technology, School of Instrument and Electronics, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China
| | - Wendong Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Dynamic Testing Technology, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China; (T.Z.); (Y.Y.); (Z.W.); (Y.W.); (Y.P.)
- National Key Laboratory for Electronic Measurement Technology, School of Instrument and Electronics, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China
- Correspondence: (W.Z.); (X.S.)
| | - Xingling Shao
- State Key Laboratory of Dynamic Testing Technology, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China; (T.Z.); (Y.Y.); (Z.W.); (Y.W.); (Y.P.)
- National Key Laboratory for Electronic Measurement Technology, School of Instrument and Electronics, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China
- Correspondence: (W.Z.); (X.S.)
| | - Yuhua Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Dynamic Testing Technology, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China; (T.Z.); (Y.Y.); (Z.W.); (Y.W.); (Y.P.)
- National Key Laboratory for Electronic Measurement Technology, School of Instrument and Electronics, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China
| | - Zhihao Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Dynamic Testing Technology, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China; (T.Z.); (Y.Y.); (Z.W.); (Y.W.); (Y.P.)
- National Key Laboratory for Electronic Measurement Technology, School of Instrument and Electronics, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China
| | - Yang Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Dynamic Testing Technology, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China; (T.Z.); (Y.Y.); (Z.W.); (Y.W.); (Y.P.)
- National Key Laboratory for Electronic Measurement Technology, School of Instrument and Electronics, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China
| | - Yu Pei
- State Key Laboratory of Dynamic Testing Technology, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China; (T.Z.); (Y.Y.); (Z.W.); (Y.W.); (Y.P.)
- National Key Laboratory for Electronic Measurement Technology, School of Instrument and Electronics, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China
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