Picture of health

A fifteen-strong team from the universities of

,

and

is working on a technology to provide clearer ultrasound images than is currently possible — particularly in the cardiovascular field.

The research — assisted by a £730,000

grant — will use ultrasonic arrays contained within ultrasound transducers, capable of producing ultra-high resolution medical images. This will provide a far clearer view of organ boundaries and considerably superior diagnostic information.

An ultrasound transducer produces sound waves that bounce off body tissues, creating echoes. The transducer also receives the echoes and sends them to a computer that uses them to create a picture called a sonogram. The transducer may be passed over the surface of the body or inserted into an opening, such as the rectum.

According to

's Prof Norman McDicken, effective scanning lies in the operators' ability to interpret the diagnostic information provided by the ultrasonic image. In present scanning technology, the resolution of the ultrasound image can be improved by increasing the frequency of the sound waves. But this is at the expense of poorer penetration and greater attenuation.