# Pediatric volumetric ultrasound scanner

> **NIH NIH R01** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $536,198

## Abstract

Hundreds of millions of ultrasound (US) exams are performed each year worldwide. Typical limitations of
conventional US imaging include operator dependence, limited field of view, limited contrast, and diffraction-
limited resolution. Volumetric imaging has the potential to create an operator-independent acquisition protocol,
and ultrafast US acquisition has opened new opportunities to address field-of-view and contrast issues. Our
extended aperture approach applied here addresses spatial resolution limitations as well. With high resolution,
real-time imaging capabilities and the lack of ionizing radiation, US has great promise for imaging pediatric
patients; in particular, for children under 3 who cannot be imaged with MRI or CT without anesthesia, the
development of a high-resolution volumetric US scanner would be transformative. In particular, we set out to
image the pediatric liver and kidney within ~0.1 second, which requires a technological leap. New ASIC switch
matrices will enable high speed acquisition and GPU-based partial beam formation enables the visualization of
the 3D data. Reconstruction of the 3D vascular structure facilitates image-based recognition of the anatomical
location of a lesion. Ultrafast SVD Doppler imaging allows the visualization of very small blood vessels with blood
flow velocities as low as 4 mm/s. Abdominal pain is very common in children and US is frequently used to
determine the cause.
Accurate volumetric measurements of the kidney are problematic due to patient motion
and operator-dependent scanning. Assaying the liver and abdomen, particularly in the context of trauma are
similarly important. Thus, we seek to create this real-time imaging tool with resolution that exceeds CT and MR
but without the need for anesthesia or radiation. Using 1024 active system channels with integrated GPU
beamformers, we will create 2 transducers to span the needs of children for this technology, with spatial
resolution at 5 cm (~300 (azimuth) x 600 (elevation) x 300 (depth) µm) that should exceed that offered by MRI
or CT by several fold. The array will be realized using tiled modules that can be switched in a mode-dependent
fashion to accomplish B-mode imaging, color Doppler and contrast imaging. Over the past four years, Stanford
University and the University of Southern California have designed an adult extended-aperture abdominal-
imaging system, and demonstrated the improved spatial resolution, field of view and contrast that can be
achieved. We exploit these tools here to develop a dedicated pediatric volumetric scanner. Our aims to
accomplish this are to 1) create and integrate acoustic/electronic transducers to implement signal buffering and
multiplexing; and 2) develop volumetric software and conduct pediatric imaging studies as a proof of concept.
We will develop the software and systems, test the system components on adult volunteers and phantoms, and
develop 3D volumetric processing. We will image a cohort of pediatr...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10876999
- **Project number:** 5R01EB033967-02
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Katherine W Ferrara
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $536,198
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-07-07 → 2027-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10876999

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10876999, Pediatric volumetric ultrasound scanner (5R01EB033967-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10876999. Licensed CC0.

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