Gr. Harris et al., The impact of piezoelectric PVDF on medical ultrasound exposure measurements, standards, and regulations, IEEE ULTRAS, 47(6), 2000, pp. 1321-1335
Citations number
189
Categorie Soggetti
Optics & Acoustics
Journal title
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ULTRASONICS FERROELECTRICS AND FREQUENCY CONTROL
This paper describes the development of PVDF hydrophones for characterizing
medical ultrasound fields. The polymer hydrophone approaches that have re
suited from this work are discussed, with emphasis given to the spot-poled
membrane design that has become the de facto reference device for these mea
surements. The various national and international standards and regulations
that have followed from the successful use of PVDF hydrophones also are su
mmarized. The works discussed encompass polymer-based hydrophones designed
primarily for diagnostic and lithotripsy exposure measurements, both in wat
er and in vivo. The advent of these hydrophones has made possible accurate
and reliable measurements of exposure levels encountered in medical ultraso
und and, thus, has allowed questions of ultrasound bioeffects and device sa
fety to be addressed in a consistent and scientifically sound manner.