Medical imaging has come a long way in the past decade. The ability to be able to map and visualize internal structures has insurmountably improved medical knowledge and aided the diagnosis process. With the advancement of technology, the efficiency and accuracy of ultrasounds has severely increased. So much so that it is now been able to track the direction of blood flow with a high-frame rate.
Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology Member Dr. Alfred Yu is a Systems Design Engineering Professor at the University of Waterloo, who’s research looks at ultrasound imaging: advanced imaging algorithms; high-performance beamforming platforms; flow phantom design, therapeutic ultrasound: cellular dynamics studies; wave-matter interactions; nanotechnology.
Alfred Yu is leading this project with the help of Hélène So, who is here as part of the student exchange program between Sorbonne Universities and the University of Waterloo. They are looking into the applications of this high-frame rate ultrasounds for high sensitivity detection of microvasculature. Conventionally, the industry uses a line-Based Pulse Echo imaging approach that fires consecutive beams in a line to create an image. A potential solution to improve this method is by using a plane wave compounding approach that allows for a broad imaging view. This approach fires waves at multiple angles to capture more than 1000 frames per second for the most efficient imaging.
At Sorbonne University Hélène is studying Biomedical Engineering and has been able to bring her expertise in this field to this project. She states that this opportunity has helped her develop skills in her subject of study but also has improved her skills in knowledge translation, data analysis, and of course, English. Hélène said that she has been enjoying developing her technical and computer skills working hands on with software and hardware.
They plan to use the data collected though the plane wave method to test if they can detect differences in HiFRUS blood velocity with lower body negative pressure. Hélène has created an interface that is able to analyze this data for efficient evaluate of the complexity of the blood flow. Hélène is working on a way to get the database to be faster and use less memory. The applications of this research will be seen in the medical imaging field for it will heavily improve the way ultrasounds are able to capture and analyze internal body data.