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Ultrasound

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Ultrasound It is an assured and apparent fact that the progression of society has for the most part trailed the widening and advancement in our understanding of science and technology. Over the past centuries, such advancements has led to some of the most innovative and groundbreaking inventions in human history. The post-World War II era saw some of these basic inventions and discoveries leap into next level advancements with the help of new technology. One of the areas that benefitted largely from the technological advancements is our health care industry. With the latest innovative medicine, doctors and researchers can now do what was unthinkable in the past century or before. One small example of such innovative technology used in today’s health care industry is the Cardiac Ultrasound Machine. Our understanding of physics has helped in better diagnosing problems without having to perform invasive procedures like before. The world of imaging in medical sciences and treatment has benefitted the most from this understanding. In today’s health care, sound waves such as the ultrasounds have changed diagnostic procedures for ever. This fact is exemplified in the invention of Cardiac Ultrasound Machine. The machine mainly consists of a transducer probe, central processing unit, transducer pulse controls, display and keyboard, storage device and a printer. The functionality of the machine depends on the piezoelectric crystals and their ability to generate sound with the absorbance of electricity. The alternating voltage causes the piezoelectric crystals to become polarized and vibrate to produce sound. Materials with piezoelectric properties such as lead titanate (PbTiO3) and lead zirconate (PbZrO3) treated by poling will generate and detect ultrasound waves when subjected to alternating electric fields or mechanical stresses. The probe transmits high frequency waves like 1 -5 megahertz into a body and the reflected waves from all kinds of tissues and organs are picked up by the machine and it is translated into the display. By comparing the distance between the beginning of the waves and the reflected surface and by analyzing it with the speed of sound, the machine is able to produce a two-dimensional image on the display. The shape of the probe determines the field of view and the frequency of the emitted sound wave determines the depth of penetration and the resolution of the image. By combining several 2-D imaging ultrasounds, one can produce a 3-D image for better images and diagnosis. 3-D imaging are very useful in the diagnosis and detection of cancerous tumors or lesions, analyzing fetal development, looking for masses in colon or rectum, visualizing blood flow into major organs and tissues etc. The Doppler Effect is also coupled with this innovation to produce the Doppler ultrasound. If the object of observance in moving, it changes the frequency of echoes by registering a higher frequency as the object moves closer to the probe and a lower frequency as it moves away. Using the Doppler ultrasound, one can determine the direction and the speed of the object moving. Such techniques have come to great use in the determining the blood flow rates through major arteries and in the heart. K.T. Dussik, an Australian researcher was the innovative mind behind this machine and due to its lack of ionizing radiation and relative safety compared to other methods such as X-ray imaging, this method is widely accepted in all areas of today’s medicine. The size of the probe can be made small and the memory much bigger. With minimizing the size of the device, it has a potential to be used outside the hospital facilities such as in battlefields or for the paramedic services. Advances in transducer design involving the use of new materials, miniaturisation and the use of ranges of transducers promises to revolutionize medical imaging in the future by providing high resolution 3-D ultrasound images and upholds a lot of promise for future medical researchers and for device designers as well as computer engineers of the future.

Work cited
Freudenrich, Ph.D. HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks.com. Web. 9 Dec. 2014. <http://science.howstuffworks.com/ultrasound6.htm>.
Abboud, Najib N et al. “Finite Element Modelling for Ultrasonic Transducers”. Weidlinger Associates Inc. SPIE Int. Symp. Medical Imaging 1998, San Diego, Feb 21-27, 1998. August 4, 2005. http://www.wai.com/AppliedScience/Software/Pzflex/Papers/pzflex-spie_mi98.pdf

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