Advanced Ultrasound Physics
Advanced Ultrasound Physics covers the mathematical and physical foundations of acoustics in diagnostic ultrasound, including wave equation derivations, image formation, and functional imaging.
Summary
Lectures are small, with a median of 2 enrolled students in the recorded sections.
What you’ll be able to do
Provide detailed physical explanations, based on advanced mathematical grounds, of (a) the basic principles of the propagation and interactions of mechanical waves in tissues, and (b) several ultrasound-based structural and functional imaging techniques
Critically assess recent technological developments in medical ultrasound imaging by appraising the motivation, strengths, and limitations of published research in this area
Based on a critical review of the state of the art of biomedical ultrasound, define the goal and specific aims of a research proposal focused on addressing a knowledge gap in the field and/or solving a relevant clinical problem using advanced concepts of ultrasound image acquisition, formation, and processing
Source: UW Guide
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Prerequisites
Course mapB M E/MED PHYS 573 and 578
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Professors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
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Student experience
the class
Mathematical and physical foundations of the application of acoustics in diagnostic ultrasound. Derivation of wave equations for mechanical waves in fluids and solids from a continuum mechanics perspective. Diffraction theory and methods for acoustic field calculation (analytic, angular spectrum, simulations). Review of interactions of acoustic waves with biological tissue and methods to measure their acoustic properties. In-depth discussion of methods for structural image formation including ray-line scanning, plane wave compounding, synthetic aperture, coded excitation, and spatial coherent imaging. Introduction to novel functional imaging approach, including ultrafast Doppler, molecular ultrasound, functional ultrasound, and super-resolution imaging. Application of the acquired knowledge to perform a systematic literature review of the state-of-the-art of the field for the solution of a relevant clinical problem.
difficulty & workload
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Topics
- Continuum mechanics and wave equation derivation.
- Acoustic-tissue interactions and property measurement.
- Structural ultrasound image formation methods.
- Functional and molecular ultrasound imaging.
Skills
- Deriving wave equations for mechanical waves using continuum mechanics.
- Calculating acoustic fields using analytic, angular spectrum, and simulation methods.
- Applying structural image formation techniques such as synthetic aperture and coded excitation.
- Understanding functional imaging approaches like ultrafast Doppler and super-resolution imaging.
- Performing systematic literature reviews to address clinical problems.
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Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
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Model & dataset provenance
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