Evaluating acoustic and thermal properties of a plaque phantom

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this study is to evaluate the acoustic and thermal properties of a plaque phantom. This is very important for the efective implementation of ultrasound not only in diagnosis but especially in treatment for the future. Material and methods An evaluation of acoustic and thermal properties of plaque phantoms to test their suitability mainly for ultrasound imaging and therapy was presented. The evaluation included measurements of the acoustic propagation speed using pulse-echo technique, ultrasonic attenuation coefcient using through transmission immersion technique, and absorption coefcient. Moreover, thermal properties (thermal conductivity, volumetric specifc heat capacity and thermal difusivity) were measured with the transient method using a needle probe. Results It was shown that acoustic and thermal properties of atherosclerotic plaque phantoms fall well within the range of reported values for atherosclerotic plaque and slightly diferent for thermal difusivity and volumetric specifc heat capacity for soft tissues. The mean value of acoustic and thermal properties and their standard deviation of plaque phantoms were 1523±23 m/s for acoustic speed, 0.50±0.02 W/mK for thermal conductivity, 0.30±0.21 db/cm-MHz for ultrasonic absorption coefcient and 1.63±0.46 db/cm-MHz for ultrasonic attenuation coefcient. Conclusions This study demonstrated that acoustic and thermal properties of atherosclerotic plaque phantoms were within the range of reported values. Future studies should be focused on the optimum recipe of the atherosclerotic plaque phantoms that mimics the human atherosclerotic plaque (agar 4% w/v, gypsum 10% w/v and butter 10% w/v) and can be used