A Transceiver ASIC for a Single-Cable 64-Element Intra-Vascular Ultrasound Probe

This article presents an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designed for intra-vascular ultrasound imaging that interfaces 64 piezoelectric transducer elements to an imaging system using a single micro-coaxial cable. Thus, it allows a single-element transducer to be replaced by a transducer array to enable 3-D imaging. The 1.5-mm...

Real-Time Coded Excitation Imaging Using a CMUT-based Side Looking Array for Intravascular Ultrasound

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is a well-established diagnostic method that provides images of the vessel wall and atherosclerotic plaques. We investigate the potential for phased-array IVUS utilizing coded excitation (CE) for improving the penetration depth and image signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). It is realized on a new experimental...

Application of OCT and IVUS to investigate the combined effect of plaque structural stress and wall shear stress on plaque progression in human coronary arteries

Introduction: Atherosclerosis, the major source of cardiovascular diseases, is one of the leading causes of death. During atherosclerosis the arterial wall is affected by a complex process of lipid driven inflammation that leads to thickening of the arterial wall resulting in a so called plaque. Because of plaque growth, the lumen of the artery...

Embedded High-Density Trench Capacitors for Smart Catheters

Our work presents embedded high-density oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) trench capacitors for power supply decoupling in the next generation of smart catheters. These millimeter-scale smart catheters are using a novel integration platform, Flex-to-Rigid (F2R). In the F2R platform, various functional modules are fabricated or assembled on thin silicon...

A Front-End ASIC With High-Voltage Transmit Switching and Receive Digitization for 3-D Forward-Looking Intravascular Ultrasound Imaging

This paper presents an area- and power-efficient application-specified integrated circuit (ASIC) for 3-D forward-looking intravascular ultrasound imaging. The ASIC is intended to be mounted at the tip of a catheter, and has a circular active area with a diameter of 1.5 mm on the top of which a 2-D array of piezoelectric transducer elements is...

In-vitro detection of small isolated cartilage defects: Intravascular ultrasound vs. optical coherence tomography

This experimental work focused on the sensor selection for the development of a needle-like instrument to treat small isolated cartilage defects with hydrogels. The aim was to identify the most accurate and sensitive imaging method to determine the location and size of defects compared to a gold standard (µCT). Only intravascular ultrasound...