A Dual-frequency Probe with Coded Excitation for Ultrasound Guided Screw Insertion in Spinal Fusion Surgery

摘要

Spinal fusion surgery is commonly indicated as part of the spinal treatment process which requires the insertion of pedicle screws to fuse the affected vertebrae and the imaging guidance is needed to avoid serious consequences during hole placement and screw insertion. Current ultrasound imaging guidance mostly used the low-frequency transducer to increase the penetration depth. However, it sacrifices the spatial resolution and the imaging depth is still limited by the propagation characteristics of ultrasound in bone. This paper proposed a new method with dual-frequency probe and coded excitation which could increase the imaging depth and boundary sharpness, thereby improving safety during surgery.