Advanced Topics in Medical Ultrasound

This course covers the basic principles of ultrasound physics, instrumentation, imaging, interaction with biological tissues, numerical simulation, applications and contemporary research in medical ultrasound. Fundamentals of ultrasound instrumentation and ultrasound array probes will be introduced, as well as signal processing approaches for 2D and 3D imaging, color flow, M-mode and Doppler sonography, speckle tracking and noise reduction. Advances in quantitative ultrasound, scanning acoustic microscopy, ultrasound contrast agents, super-resolution, ultrasound tomography, photoacoustics and elastography will be discussed, and their application to various tissues (e.g,. heart, blood vessels, brain, liver, muscle, bone, etc.) will be presented. Low intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) for cell and tissue stimulation and therapeutics, as well as non-linear acoustics for high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), acoustic radiation force, and shear wave imaging will be covered. Critical examination of current literature and research techniques will be integral to this course.