Design of double ultrasound pulse transmission and receiving circuit used in ultrasound thermometry

Abstract

Hyperthermia treatments of tumours are attracting more and more attention from physical doctors and researchers. In particular, invasive microwave coagulation (IMC) therapy is a newly developed and effective method for the treatment of liver tumours. Generally successful applications of IMC are based on accurate temperature measurements of the tissues as the microwaves take effect. As a noninvasive technology, ultrasonic thermometry is based on the correlation between temperature and ultrasound speed or ultrasound decay coefficients of tissues. This paper presents the design of a double ultrasonic pulse transmission/receiving circuit used in ultrasonic thermometry. The circuit can synchronously produce the double ultrasonic pulse required by ultrasonic thermometry and can successfully receive weak ultrasonic echo signals. Some key wave-shapes used in experiments are presented. The experimental results indicate that the circuit is reliable and has good functionality.