A fast rotating scanning unit for real-time three-dimensional echo data acquisition

Most three-dimensional (3-D) echocardiography (3-DE) systems today are base d on off-line methods where a large number of cross-sectional 2-D scans hav e to be acquired sequentially before a 3-D image can be reconstructed, Beca use acquisition is done step-by-step based on ECG triggering plus respirato ry gating, this introduces motion artefacts and takes significant acquisiti on time. Another 3-D approach is based on 2-D transducers and parallel beam -forming, Such a system is very complex, In this manuscript, a fast continu ously-rotating scanning unit, based on a 64-element phased-array transducer , is described. Typical rotation speed of the 3-D unit is 8 rotations per s . Therefore, 16 3-D volume datasets can be acquired per s in real-time. The first clinical examples as acquired with this probe are presented. (C) 200 0 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology.