THE 4D SPECIALIST

Mr. Vijesh Kumar

Mr.Vijesh Kumar M.K, one of the talented biomedical engineers in the field of medical ultrasound is one of the active persons behind Probelab, The transducer repair firm in Kerala. He is the chief technical officer (CTO) of the firm and has more than 8 years experience in the field of ultrasound. He is trained in Australia for 4D repair.

Probelab

Talking about the Probelab, he told that it was their dream to start an independent probe servicing firm which can provide all ultrasound transducer repairs including TEE. He said that their efforts made Probelab to become India’s first TEE probe repair center.

Volume probes

Mr.Vijesh explained the concept/application and repair of 3D/4D probes (generally called the volume probe). He said that “volume probes are widely used in gynecological applications. Especially in the last stage of pregnancy to see the 3D images of baby’s face. In the case of 4D scan the parent can watch the movement of the baby lively. Simply volume probe is a 2D probe with a mechanical assembly to get the volumetric parameters”. On asking about the complaints he replied that “in most cases the complaints are mechanical assembly related. The problems like lens damage and physical damages are less than 2D probes”.

Training experience

Vijesh shared the training experiences, what he got from the training and how it helped him to become a 4D specialist in ultrasound. He described that “the 2 week training in Australia helped me to understand how to make my work from better to best. I was aware of the technologies available in this field, but was not much familiarized. Through this 2 week period I familiarized with these technologies and also got trained. Really the training helped me to improve my skills a lot.

Problems in India

Like his colleague Mr.KJ Mr. Vijesh also put forward the opinion that India needs a federation like FDA to evaluate the quality of ultrasound equipments at the correct time.

Achievements 

To know more about volume probe repair visit  www.probelab.in or call 9847069684

 THE ULTRASOUND RESEARCHERS

Professor Nicolaas (Klass) Bom

• Born in 1937 at Velsen, the Netherlands.
• He worked as a naval officer at the Laboratory of Physics of RVO-TNO at The Hague and was subsequently involved in research on underwater acoustics at the Saclant Research Center of NATO at La Spezia, Italy for a period of six years.
• He obtained his Ph.D. in 1972 on the thesis "New Concepts in Echocardiography"
• He was the first to describe linear array principles with practical results in cardiology.
• He also explained phased array catheter-based real time imaging of heart and large vessels.
• Since 1974, he is Head of the Biomedical Engineering Group of the Thorax centre.
• In 1987, he received an honorary doctorate from the Technological Faculty of the University of Lund, Sweden
• He was responsible for the development of the real-time multi-element linear array scanner in the early 1970s.
• Designer of 2.5 MHz linear array probe.
• In collaboration with the cardiologist Paul Hugenholtz and Dutch company Organon Teknika, they produced the "Multiscan System", one of the earliest commercial linear array scanners in the world.
• Professor Bom has pioneered and worked on many important research projects, many of which are on transducer design, experimental echocardiography, the development of intraluminal, transoesophageal and intravascular ultrasonic techniques, their clinical applications and standardization.
• Professor Bom is on the Editorial Board of a number of journals in the field of ultrasound.
• He authored and co-authored over 300 scientific papers on the subject of design and development of ultrasonic devices for medical diagnostics.
• He was presented with the "History of Medical Ultrasound Pioneer Award" from the World Federation of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (WFUMB) in 1988 and the Ian Donald Gold Medal for Technical Merit from the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology (ISUOG) in 1997.
• His current research interest is in the refinement of intraluminal and intravascular ultrasound devices, methodology and standards.

Martin H Wilcox

• Martin H Wilcox was born in 1940. 
• He joined the United Tele Control Electronics and the Penura Corporations, designing and fabricating hand-held, battery-operated Doppler ultrasound diagnostic devices and automatic blood pressure measuring instruments and audiometers.
• He worked at the Unirad Corporation and is the designer of a number of their important hardware on their static B-mode scanners.
• He was out of the "medical" ultrasound field from about 1982, when he and his partner Edward Diethrich sold ADR (one of the earliest commercially available linear-array real-time scanner) to the Squibb Corporation.
• Wilcox was awarded the Ian Donald Gold Medal for Technical Merit in 1993 by the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology (ISUOG).
• Wilcox used his experience in the medical world to design highly efficient, low power transducers which produce the extreme high quality performance underwater.
• He designed and produced a unique underwater acoustic positioning system called SHARPS (Sonic High-Accuracy Range and Positioning System) in 1980s
• He is the establisher of Marine Sonic Technology, Ltd, now makes important and highly technical underwater systems and is engaged with projects from the United States government, the navy and many other overseas corporations.

Jan C Somer

• He first published on electronic sector scanning for ultrasonic diagnosis in 1968 in the Journal: Ultrasonic. The principle of phased-arrays had probably been known much earlier where the techniques were engaged in underwater submarine warfare and hence the technology was kept confident.

Thurstone and Olaf von Ramm

Olaf Von Ramm

• Thurstone and Olaf von Ramm at the Duke University in 1976 published more advanced version of the electronically steered arrays.
• Their design was considered to be a pioneering and very important phased-array design at that time

Carl Kretz

• Carl Kretz was born on in 1932 in Vienna. 
• Founder of Kretztechnik
• Strong developer of non-destructive ultrasonic metal flow     detecting
• Poineer of fully electronic transducer design
• Introduced transvaginal and transrectal endo sonography
• Introduced 3D ultrasound system.
• He was given the prestigious Ian Donald Gold Medal in Technical Development from the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology (ISUOG) in 1999. 

Dr. Samuel H Maslaki

• Founder of Acuson Corporation
• Samuel Maslak was born in 1948 and grows up in Suitland, Maryland.
• Maslak invented a unique scanner architecture and beam-forming agorithm which were subsequently patented and assigned to Hewlett-Packard
• Samuel Maslak holds over 40 patents and has been named as one of Health week's top 25 innovators (August 1989).
• Has numerous contributions in the field of ultrasonic medical instrument technology
• He proposed “The digital broad bandwidth beam forming”
• He co-invented computer sonography
• Maslak has received numerous accolades, including being honored as: CEO of the Entrepreneurial Company of the Year at the 13th Annual Awards presented by the Stanford Business School Alumni Association; San Francisco Bay Area Entrepreneur of the Year (July 1989); one of Business Week's "CEO's of 1000 Top Companies" (1991), as well as holder of the Joseph H. Holmes Pioneer Award for Basic Science presented by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine in 2002.
• In 2005, he was honored with the prestigious Ian Donald Award for Technical Merit from the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

CONSTRUCTION OF 2D PROBES

The constructional details of all the modern ultrasound transducer can be explained using the following diagram.The basic component of a modern convex 2D ultrasound transducer is illustrated in below figure.

2D PROBE

The major parts of the transducer includes

• Acoustic lens
• Acoustic matching layer
• Piezoelectric element
• Backing material
• Cable
• connector

1. Acoustic lens: Ultrasonic waves transmitted from the piezoelectric element are reflected off a target because there is a big difference in acoustic impedance between the piezoelectric element and the object. To avoid this phenomenon, an intermediate material is inserted between the two so that ultrasonic waves can efficiently enter the object. This is the role of the acoustic matching layer. This acoustic matching for less reflection of ultrasonic waves makes it possible to implement highly sensitive probes. The acoustic matching layer is designed to have adequate acoustic impedance value using a combination of different resin materials.
2. Matching layer: Ultrasonic waves transmitted from the piezoelectric element are reflected off a target because there is a big difference in acoustic impedance between the piezoelectric element and the object. To avoid this phenomenon, an intermediate material is inserted between the two so that ultrasonic waves can efficiently enter the object. This is the role of the acoustic matching layer. This acoustic matching for less reflection of ultrasonic waves makes it possible to implement highly sensitive probes. The acoustic matching layer is designed to have adequate acoustic impedance value using a combination of different resin materials.
3. Piezoelectric crystals: The piezoelectric element is an essential part of the probe to generate ultrasonic waves. On both sides of the piezoelectric element electrodes are affixed and a voltage is applied. The element then oscillates by repeatedly expanding and contracting, generating a sound wave. When the element is externally applied with vibration (or an ultrasonic wave) in turn, it generates a voltage. Among the several types of piezoelectric elements, piezoelectric ceramic (PZT: lead zirconate titanate) is most commonly used because of its high conversion efficiency.
4. Backing material: The backing material is located behind the piezoelectric element to prevent excessive vibration. Reducing excessive vibration will cause the element to generate ultrasonic waves with a shorter pulse length, improving axial resolution in images.
5. Cable: The Coaxial wires Carries power to excite the piezoelectric crystals. For each crystal there will be one cable.
6. Connector: connect the probe with ultrasound machines. Contains electrical circuits with MUX and other interfacing ICs.

GE PROBES

VIVID

(To know more about the probe, click on the names) 

CONVEX MICRO CONVEX                                    

• GE 3.5C                                                                        

• GE 3CRF                                                                      

• GE 4C                                                                      

• GE 8C                                                                           

• GE E8C

• GE M7C

LINEAR

• GE 10L

• GE 7L

• GE 9L

• GE M12L

PHASED ARRAY                                                   

• GE 10S                                                                    

• GE 12SD  

• GE 3S        

• GE 4S

• GE 5S RS

• GE 7S RS

• GE M4S

SPECIALITY

• GE i12L

• GE i739 

• GE T739    

                                                                     

                                                                                    

GE PROBES

VENUE

(To know more about the probe, click on the names) 

• Convex Micro convex probe : GE 4C
• Linear                                     : GE 12L
• Phased Array                          : GE 3S
• Speciality                                : GE L8-18i-SC

GE PROBES(List 5)

LOGIQ

(To know more about the probe, click on the names) 

LINEAR

• GE 12L
• GE 10LB
• GE 10LB RS
• GE 8L
• GE i12L RS
• GE i12L
• GE M12L
• GE 9L
• GE 7L
• GE 10L
• GE L8-18iD
• GE ML6-15-D
• GE 12L RS
• GE 8L RS
• GE L76
• GE LZ7.5
• GE 546L
• GE 547L 
• GE 739L
• GE LA39

GE PROBES (List 4)

LOGIQ

(To know more about the probe, click on the names) 

SPECIALITY

• GE T739 RS
• GE T739
• GE BE9C
• GE IC5-9
• GE i12L
• GE i739
• GE E8C-RS 
• GE i739-RS 
• GE E8C
• GE MTZ