Advantages of time reversal acoustic focusing system in biomedical applications

Abstract

The development and biomedical applications of time reversal acoustics (TRA) systems for focusing and manipulating ultrasound beams are reviewed. The TRA focusing system (TRA FS) is capable to deliver ultrasound energy to the chosen region in highly inhomogeneous medium (including soft tissues and bones) with focusing efficacy hardly achievable using conventional phased array transmitters. TRA FS is able to focus and stir ultrasound beams in a 3‐D volume using just a few piezoceramic transducers glued to the facets an aluminum block. Another advantage of TRA FS is its ability to produce pulses with arbitrary waveforms in a wide frequency band. A custom‐designed compact multichannel TRA system operating in a wide frequency range from 0.01 to 10 MHz has been developed. Measurements of TRA field structure were conducted in a large variety of inhomogeneous tissue phantoms and ex vivo bones and soft tissues. Principles of TRA focusing optimization based on acoustical properties of the resonator material, parameters of the sonicated medium, and the coupling of the TRA resonator with the medium were developed and applied in the tested TRA systems. [Work was supported by NIH.]