Veterinary Ultrasound Imaging Principle

Imageological diagnoses that can be done on animals are ultrasound and X-ray. One of the most commonly used forms of imaging in practice is ultrasound.

 

Veterinary Ultrasound Imaging Principle

Ultrasound is a sound wave that is inaudible to the human ear. Sound waves above 20 kHz are called ultrasound, and those below 20 Hz are called infrasound. Ultrasound frequencies used for medical imaging are usually higher than the human ear: about 2 MHz to 20 MHz.

Ultrasound

 

To use ultrasound, we first need to have a way to generate them. We need something to generate vibrations that will propagate through the animal’s tissues. here is a special material called “piezoelectric crystal”. This material has a very special property. When a voltage is applied to the piezoelectric crystal (shown in green in the figure below), it expands. When the voltage is removed, it shrinks back to its original thickness. If the voltage is repeatedly and rapidly applied and removed, the piezoelectric crystal expands and relaxes rapidly, producing ultrasound.

Probe emits ultrasound

Principle of ultrasound

The piezoelectric crystal has another very useful property, which makes it also useful for receiving ultrasound. When a piezoelectric crystal is compressed, it generates a voltage. This property is used to “listen” to the ultrasound that return after impacting an object. When the returned ultrasound hits the piezoelectric crystal, it is compressed. The crystal then generates a voltage corresponding to the intensity of the ultrasound hitting it.

veterinary ultrasound imaging principle

Receiving ultrasonic waves

 

Ultrasound machines can conveniently use the same piezoelectric crystal to transmit and listen to ultrasound. First, the ultrasound machine applies a voltage to the crystal, which causes it to expand and transmit. The ultrasound machine then quickly switches to listening mode by monitoring the voltage on the piezoelectric crystal. This transmit and receive cycle repeats very quickly.

ultrasound machine for veterinary

ultrasound machine for animals

 

For clarity of presentation, the above example shows only one crystal. In reality, the ultrasonic probe is made up of a large number of individual piezoelectric crystals. The information collected from the crystals is processed by a computer and displayed on the screen.

This is how ultrasound imaging works. 

You can choose from a wide range of ultrasound machines for veterinary for animals at Dawei.


Post time: Nov-29-2022