High frequency ultrasonic characterization of human vocal fold tissue

Abstract

Recently, endolaryngeal sonography at frequencies ranging from 10 to 30 MHz has been found to be useful in diagnosing diseases of the vocal folds (VFs). However, image resolution can be further improved by ultrasound at higher frequencies, necessitating the measurement of high-frequency acoustic properties of VF tissue. The ultrasonic parameters of integrated backscatter, sound velocity, and frequency-dependent attenuation coefficient were measured in both the lamina propria (LP) and vocalis muscle (VM) of human VFs using a 47 MHz high-frequency ultrasonic transducer. The integrated backscatter was -173.44+/-6.14 (mean+/-s.d.) and -195.13+/-3.58 dB in the LP and VM, respectively, the sound velocity was 1667.68+/-44.9 and 1595.07+/-39.33 ms, and the attenuation coefficient at 47 MHz was 8.28+/-1.72 and 7.17+/-1.30 dBmm. The difference between these ultrasonic parameters may be attributed to variations in the structure and fiber concentrations in VF tissue. These results could serve as a useful clinical reference for the further development of high-frequency ultrasound devices for endolarynx sonography applications.

Ultrasound imaging of the larynx and vocal folds

“…Direct measurement of the acoustic parameters of the vocal folds is another approach. A previous study indicated that the integrated backscatter, attenuation coefficient, and sound velocity were larger for the lamina propria than for the vocal muscle [40], which could have been due to differences between the anatomical structures of the lamina propria and vocal muscle.…”

Ultrasound monitoring of temperature and coagulation change during tumor treatment with microwave ablation

“…Ultrasonic tissue characterization can also be used to detect small pathological changes in the tumor in addition to observe its size, movement, and the neighboring structure. Therefore, this technique is of important clinical value (Huang et al, 2007;Lai et al, 2007;Mehdi et al, 2007;Saijo et al, 2007).…”

Evaluation for the distribution of fouling deposition on the microfiltration membrane using high frequency ultrasound

“…For example, as ultrasound frequency and f-number of the applied transducer are respectively reached to 50 MHz and 2.9, the subsequent axial and lateral resolutions may be increased to 20 and 100 μm, respectively [6]. High frequency ultrasound has been widely used to noninvasively monitor biological tissues, such as the eye, vocal fold, vasculature, blood, skin, heart of small animals, and mice embryos [7][8][9][10][11].…”