Ultrasound Therapy I: Aditya Johan .R, M.Fis

ULTRASOUND THERAPY I
Aditya Johan .R, M.Fis

INTRODUCTION
 Sound is defined as the periodic mechanical disturbance of an elastic medium

such as air
 Sound requires a medium for its transmission and cannot cross a vacuum
 Ultrasound refers to mechanical vibrations, which are essentially the same as
sound waves but of a higher frequency
 Such waves are beyond the range of human hearing and can therefore be
called ultrasonic
SOUND FREQUENCIES
 Vibration merges with sound at frequencies around 20 Hz; vibration below this
frequency is often called infrasound or infrasonic
 Audible sound – 20 to 20000 Hz
 Ultrasound – Greater then 20000 Hz
 Infrasound – Less than 20 Hz
 Therapeutic ultrasound – 0.5 to 5 MHz – 1 to 3 MHz
 Sonic waves are series of mechanical compressions and rarefactions in the direction of
travel of the wave, hence they are called longitudinal waves
 They can occur in solids, liquids, and gases and are due to regular compression and
separation of molecules
 The molecules of all matter are in constant random motion; the amount of molecular
agitation is what is measured as heat – the greater the molecular movement, the
greater the heat
 Sound waves will pass more rapidly through material in which the molecules are
close together, thus their velocity is higher in solids and liquids than in gases
PRODUCTION OF THERAPEUTIC US
 Piezo-electric effect: The production of a small electro motive force across

certain substances on being subjected to external pressure
 Reverse piezo-electric effect: Production of mechanical waves or vibrations due
to the application of electro motive force
PIEZOELECTRIC EFFECT
 Many types of crystal can be used but the most favored are quartz, which occurs
naturally, and some synthetic ceramic materials such as barium titanate and
lead zirconate titanate (PZT)
 These crystals deform when subjected to a varying potential difference – a piezo-
electric effect
 In order to apply the electric charges, metal electrodes must be fixed to the
crystal
PIEZOELECTRIC EFFECT
 Piezoelectric effect generated by piezoelectric crystal

 Occurs when an electric current is passed through the crystal
 Crystal expands and contracts at frequencies that produce ultrasound
ULTRASOUND PROPERTIES
 Transducer (Sound head) : A crystal that converts electrical energy

into sound
 Power : The amount of acoustic energy per unit time (Watt)
 Intensity : The power per unit era of the sound head (Watt/cm2)
BEAM NON UNIFORMITY
 Spatial average intensity: Average

intensity of the US output over the area of
the transducer
 Spatial peak intensity: Peak intensity of the
ultrasound output over the area of the
transducer. The intensity is usually great in
the centre of the beam and lowest at the
edges of the beam
BEAM NON UNIFORMITY
 Beam non-uniformity ratio (BNR):

Ratio between peak intensity
and average intensity in the
beam.
 The lower the BNR the more
uniform the beam
 With BNR 5:1, when the spatial
average intensity is 1W/cm2, the
spatial peak intensity would be
5W/cm2
 Continuous ultrasound: continuous delivery
of US through out the treatment period
 Pulsed ultrasound: delivering US only during
a portion of the treatment period.
 Pulsing reduces the thermal effects
DUTY CYCLE
 Duty cycle: proportion of the total treatment

time that the US is on.
 This can be expressed in percentage or a ration
 20% or 1:5 duty cycle, is on for 20% of the time
and off for the 80% of time
FREQUENCIES
 Frequency: number of compressionrarefraction

cycles per unit of time, usually expressed in
cycles per second (Hertz)
 Increasing the frequency of US causes a
decrease in its depth of penetration and
concentration of the US energy in the superficial
tissues
EFFECTIVE RADIATING AREA (ERA)
 Effective radiating area (ERA): The area of the transducer from which the US
energy radiates. Since the crystal doesn’t vibrate uniformly , the ERA is always
smaller than the area of the treatment head.
CONVERGENCE AND DIVERGENCE AREA
 Some waves cancel out, others reinforce so

that the net result is a very irregular pattern
of the sonic waves in the region close to the
transducer face, called the near field or
Fresnel zone.
 Beyond this, the far field or Fraunhofer zone,
the sonic field spreads out somewhat and
becomes much more regular because of
the differing path lengths from points on the
transducer.

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ULTRASOUND THERAPY I

Aditya Johan .R, M.Fis

 Sound is defined as the periodic mechanical disturbance of an elastic medium

 Piezo-electric effect: The production of a small electro motive force across

 Piezoelectric effect generated by piezoelectric crystal

 Transducer (Sound head) : A crystal that converts electrical energy

 Spatial average intensity: Average

 Beam non-uniformity ratio (BNR):

 Duty cycle: proportion of the total treatment

 Frequency: number of compressionrarefraction

 Some waves cancel out, others reinforce so

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