Abstract
In ultrasonic molecular imaging, encapsulated micron-sized gas bubbles are tethered to a blood vessel wall by targeting ligands. A challenging problem is to detect the echoes from adherent microbubbles and distinguish them from echoes from nonadherent agents and tissue. Echoes from adherent contrast agents are observed to include a high amplitude at the fundamental frequency, and significantly different spectral shape compared with free agents (p<0.0003). Mechanisms for the observed acoustical difference and potential techniques to utilize these differences for molecular imaging are proposed.
Original language | English (US) |
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Journal | Journal of the Acoustical Society of America |
Volume | 120 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2006 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Acoustics and Ultrasonics