High-frequency ultrasound (HFU) offers fine spatial resolution at the expense of penetration depth. However, several other challenges associated with using HFU exist: transducers are difficult to manufacture, transmit and receive electronics must be fast, low noise, and carefully optimized, and A/D converters operating at hundredths of MHz may have limited bit depth, fixed amplitude, and are costly. HFU is often defined as using a center frequency beyond those typically available on FDA-approved clinical instruments. With this definition and accounting for recent developments in ultrasound transducer technology, and systems hardware and software, HFU could be considered to start at center frequencies beyond 25 MHz. Preclinical ultrasound instruments also exist using transducers operating at center frequencies up to 60 MHz. This presentation will briefly review advantages and challenges of using HFU for biomedical applications. Next, the design of research systems operating at center frequencies beyond 60 MHz and their use in biomedical research including human studies will be discussed. Finally, the talk will also present recent advancement in quantitative acoustic microscopy using ultra-high frequencies ranging between 250 MHz and 1 GHz. Work supported by NIH grants R01CA277038, R01GM143388, R21EB028084, and R01HL175513.
Jonathan Mamou (Wed,) studied this question.