Higher resolution

Researchers at the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering have successfully demonstrated a novel High-resolution Ultrasonic Transmission Tomography (HUTT) system that offers 3D images of soft tissue that are superior to those produced by existing commercial X-ray, ultrasound or MRI units.

Vasilis Marmarelis, a professor of biomedical engineering at the Viterbi School, presented HUTT images of animal organ tissue in San Diego at the 28th International Acoustical Imaging Symposium on March 21st.

According to Marmarelis, HUTT offers nearly order-of-magnitude improvement in resolution of structures in soft tissue (i.e., 0.4 mm, compared to 2 mm for the best alternatives).

Several other features promise to make the technology a scientific and clinical tool of great power.

Algorithms developed by his team enable HUTT to differentiate separate types of tissue based on their distinctive “frequency-dependent attenuation” profiles that should allow clinicians to distinguish malignant lesions from benign growths in a non-invasive and highly reliable manner.