Nonlinear response of microbubbles coated with surfactant membrane developed as ultrasound contrast agent - experimental study and numerical calculations

Nonlinear response of microbubbles illuminated with ultrasound pulse was investigated through experiments and numerical calculations to build the basis for ultrasound blood flow image enhancement system (harmonic imaging system) using higher harmonic components based on nonlinear behavior of microbubbles for ultrasound contrast agents. The effects of membrane coating, size distribution and randomness of spatial distribution of microbubbles were examined. The relationship between the number of cycles in illuminated pulse and the higher harmonic component excitation efficiency, in particular, was studied and a tendency was found for the number of cycles larger than six cycles to cause gradual increase in the second harmonic component excitation efficiency. The simulated and experimental results were in good agreement. Furthermore, the simulated results using the conventional mathematical model ignoring the compressibility of liquid around bubbles showed a tendency of variation opposite to that of experimental results in the relationship between the illuminated ultrasound frequency and the second harmonic component excitation efficiency. On the contrary, the simulated results taking account of compressibility showed a good agreement with the experimental results. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.