Miniaturized, wearable, ultrasound probe for on-demand ultrasound screening

There are several applications in the medical field that require periodic monitoring of blood vessels or organ functions. Ultrasound, being one of the preferred imaging modalities, is often used for such applications. However, present day ultrasound probes are bulky and inconvenient. We present a low profile, wearable ultrasound probe that can be taped onto the patient's body for periodic or constant monitoring of organ functions. The small form factor is key for such applications. Therefore, CMUT technology is ideal for development of such probes. The probe consists of a 64-element 1D linear array CMUT operating at 5 MHz. Front-end electronics were integrated with the CMUT to improve the SNR of the acquired image. The final assembly measures 6 cm × 3.5 cm × 0.35 cm. A PDMS lens lay on top of the assembly to allow focusing in the elevation plane. The probe is interfaced to a backend system (Verasonics data acquisition system, Verasonics, Inc., Redmond, WA). Verasonics provides the high voltage pulses and also digitizes the received RF echo data for image reconstruction. Field characterization of the probe was performed using a calibrated hydrophone and was compared to Field II simulations. Finally, imaging experiments were performed on a commercially available phantom as well as the human neck. Images were also acquired with a commercially available probe for the sake of comparison. The CMUT probe provided with comparable image quality to that of the commercial probe. Real time images were also acquired by the CMUT probe at 30 frames per second.