SPIE Medical Imaging 2023

Speaker: Torsten Hopp, KIT

TItle of the talk: First imaging results with the new generation of the KIT 3D ultrasound tomography device

Abstract: Ultrasound Tomography (USCT) is an emerging technology for early breast cancer detection. At Karlsruhe Institute of Technology we recently realized a new generation of full 3D USCT device with a pseudo-randomly sampled hemispherical aperture. In this paper we summarize first imaging results with phantoms and first volunteer images. Using a gelatin phantom with PVC inclusions we evaluated transmission imaging, which showed a deviation from the ground truth of less than 5 m/s in the sound speed and 0:2 dB/cm in the attenuation for the phantom body and less than 15 m/s and 0:2 dB/cm for an inclusion with a diameter of 2:2 cm. Geometric errors are in average in the range of 0:2 cm. For reflectivity imaging we showed that the point spread function is nearly isotropic and with an average of 0:26 mm close to the theoretical predictions for the current system. While the system is still in final commissioning, the results of the phantom and volunteer imaging are very promising: after further calibration and deeper analysis with phantoms we aim at starting a clinical study.