In vivo ultrasound biomicroscopy

A very high frequency ultrasonic biomicroscopy system (30-130 MHz) using a B-scan combined with a new Z-scan technique for in vivo imaging of the skin has been developed. To get high lateral resolution and a good signal to noise ratio, we utilized a very narrow focused single element ceramic transducer as used in conventional acoustic microscopy resulting in resolutions of 30 μm lateral and 6 μm axial. Due to the transducer beam shape corresponding to a very short usable focal zone, the B-scan technique has been modified by an additional Z-scan in order to get sufficient depth range suitable for dermatologic diagnostics. We proved the resolution capabilities of the system by in vivo imaging experiments of diseased and normal skin