Numerical implementation of magneto-acousto-electric tomography (MAET) using a linear phased array transducer.

In this study, the performance and implementation of magneto-acousto-electric tomography (MAET) is investigated using a linear phased array (LPA) transducer. The goal of MAET is to image the conductivity distribution in biological bodies. It uses the interaction between ultrasound and a static magnetic field to generate velocity current density distribution inside the body. The resultant voltage due to velocity current density is sensed by surface electrodes attached on the body. In this study, the theory of MAET is reviewed. A 16-element LPA transducer is used to provide beam directivity and steerability of acoustic waves. Different two-dimensional (2D) numerical models of breast and tumour are formed to analyze the multiphysics problem coupled with acoustics and electromagnetic fields. In these models, velocity current density distributions are obtained for pulse type ultrasound excitations. The static magnetic field is assumed as 1 Tesla. To sense the resultant voltage caused by the velocity current density, it is assumed that two electrodes are attached on the surface of the body. The performance of MAET is shown through sensitivity matrix analysis. The sensitivity matrix is obtained for two transducer positions with 13 steering angles between -30° to 30° with 5° angular intervals. For the reconstruction of the images, truncated singular value decomposition (SVD) method is used with different signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values (20 dB, 40 dB, 60 dB and 80 dB). The resul...

Source: Physics in Medicine and Biology - December 5, 2017 Category: Physics Authors: Gözü MS, Zengin R, Gencer NG Tags: Phys Med Biol Source Type: research