Accurate Motion Plan of Ultrasonic Linear Array Transducer for Non-Invasive 3D Endoscopy of Brain

The purpose of the current paper is the development of a noninvasive imaging system for diagnostic purposes, consisting of ultrasonic linear probe of high frequency assisted by an accurate motion control robotic system, enabling the monitoring of the brain spatial variation. This will be of an added value for the detection of cancerous cells spreading to healthy tissues during the neurosurgical tumor exception. The acquisition of high-response tomographic images is achieved using a broadband linear array transducer of high frequencies of the order of 20MHz with sufficient penetration depth inside the brain and fine spatial resolution, through the efficient control of their phase characteristics both in transmit and receive modes. Moreover, an accurate mechanical adaptation is designed in order to move the ultrasonic probe with a constant velocity and a sequence of tomographic images is recorded. Then, the 3D endoscopic characteristics of the measured object are extracted via the reconstruction of the 3D volume. Finally, the functionality of the proposed method is validated in a rat brain mapping.