What is PD IEC/TS 62791- Pulse-echo scanners about?
PD IEC/TS 62791 is a safety standard on ultrasonics.
PD IEC/TS 62791 defines terms and specifies methods for quantifying the imaging performance of real-time, ultrasound B-mode scanners. The types of transducers used with these scanners include:
- Phased array
- Linear arrays
- Convex arrays
- Mechanical sector scanners
- 3-D probes operating in 2-D imaging mode
- 3-D probes operating in 3-D imaging mode for a limited number of sets of reconstructed 2-D images
The test methodology described in PD IEC/TS 62791 is applicable for transducers operating in the 2 MHz to 15 MHz frequency range.
Who is PD IEC/TS 62791- Pulse-echo scanners for?
PD IEC/TS 62791 on pulse-echo scanners is relevant to:
- Manufacturers of pulse-echo scanners
- Manufacturers of transducers
- Testing authorities of ultrasonic testing
Why should you use PD IEC/TS 62791- Pulse-echo scanners?
Ultrasonic pulse-echo scanners are widely used in medical practice to produce images of soft tissue organs throughout the human body. Most ultrasonic pulse-echo scanners produce real-time images of tissue in a scan plane by sweeping a narrow, pulsed beam of ultrasound through the tissue section of interest and detecting the echoes generated by reflection at tissue boundaries and by scattering within tissues.
One means for testing the imaging performance of an ultrasound pulse-echo scanner is to quantify the degree to which a small cyst-like (low-echo) object is distinguished from the surrounding soft tissue, i.e., the degree to which a small cyst-like (low-echo) object is detectable in the surrounding soft tissue.
There are three components of resolution defined in PD IEC/TS 62791 for pulse-echo ultrasound:
- Axial resolution (parallel to the local pulse propagation direction)
- Lateral resolution (perpendicular to the local pulse propagation direction and parallel to the scan plane)
- Elevational resolution (perpendicular to the local pulse propagation direction and to the scan plane)
It is important that the phantom allows quantification of detectability to be carried out over the entire depth range imaged; thus, it is important that the low-echo spheres exist up to the entire scanning window. Each of the phantoms described in PD IEC/TS 62791 contains a random distribution of equal diameter [2], low-echo spheres existing at all depths, including the case of those designed for testing convex (curved) arrays. PD IEC/TS 62791 summarizes the requirements for a phantom to provide for the determination of detectability of low-echo (cyst-like) objects for any type of pulse-echo transducer, except (perhaps) a 2-D array with a spherical-cap surface.
Overall, PD IEC/TS 62791 is useful as it assists with low-echo sphere phantoms and method for performance testing of gray-scale medical ultrasound scanners applicable to a broad range of transducer types which can be helpful for your business.
