Ultrafast4D

Ultrasound imaging dates back to the seventies where it was introduced as a real-time imaging modality into clinics. Since then, ultrasound imaging has become a major imaging modality, mostly due to its real-time capabilities but also due to its versatility, portability and low cost compared to other imaging modalities. Ultrasound imaging is mainly used for screening, diagnosis and monitoring in many fields such as radiology cardiology, gynecology, gastroenterology, obstetrics, neonatology, neurology, ophthalmology, angiology. As a result of increasing life expectancy and declining fertility rates, the proportion of the population aged over 60 years is growing faster than any other age group. Consequently, the pressure to maintain the health and quality of life in ageing populations will continue to be a major challenge for healthcare systems, a challenge where ultrasound imaging as still a very important role to play. In the last decade, the Langevin Institute and SuperSonic Imagine have been at the core of the ultrafast ultrasound imaging revolution with the development of ultrafast scanners with hundreds of acquisition channels. In the new architecture, most of the imaging logic is implemented directly in software rather than in hardware. The flexibility and high quantity of acquired data available has enabled new imaging strategies based on synthetic focusing of the ultrasound field such as coherent plane wave compounding. This fundamental shift in the way of creating ultrasonic images has allowed the development of new imaging modalities which can reach thousands of frames per second with high quality. Ultrafast imaging is the key to drastically improve sensitivity of several imaging modes such as Doppler imaging but also enables the quantification of new highly promising features such as tissue elasticity based on shear wave imaging. Recently the introduction of 3D ultrasound imaging on high-end scanner has opened the possibilities to reduce operator dependence of the images by acquiring a full volume directly. 3D ultrasound imaging has seen a lot of developments in the last decade with new technology such as electronic beamforming integrated in the probe handle allowing real time framerate of dozens of volume per second, still far below ultrafast volumerate or required for Doppler imaging. Despite this limitation, 3D imaging sparkled strong interest in cardiology research where it is crucial to follow the heart mechanics in 3D. We believe that the combination of ultrafast and volumetric imaging will be the key for the development of new diagnostic applications in the next decades. As such, we recently demonstrated in vivo 3D shear wave elastography and 4D ultrasensitive Doppler thanks to our unique 4D ultrafast prototype with 1024 channels and matrix array built by Vermon. With the Ultrafast4D project, we believe that those breakthroughs can be combined in a single solution, ready to move clinical imaging even further : new highly promising quantitative features, no compromise high frame rate volume imaging, affordable package. The main objective of the Ultrafast4D project is to allow similar 4D imaging capabilities using available commercial ultrafast scanners (128-256 channels) thanks to smarter probe designs and novel imaging sequence schemes for a mucher lower cost. The project will be mainly focused on low cost 4D ultrafast cardiac imaging - a key differentiator for the involved companies - from prototype fabrication to in vivo cardiac volumic ultrafast acquisitions on healthy volunteers. The project also aims to explore other preclinical applications at higher frequencies for vascular imaging and preclinical functional ultrasound.