Ultrasonic visualization in vivo of anatomic features of the ventricles, cisterns, sulci and major blood vessels of the brain and the internal surface configuration of the cranial vault of the rhesus monkey, using recently developed instrumentation; incorporating omnidirectional scanning, relief presentation and computer control of transducer positioning, data handling and display parameters, is illustrated. Results are presented in cross-sectional views of the tissue. In this study the acoustic energy had access to intracranial structures via an opening in the skull, but traversed the intact scalp, thus achieving separation of the problems associated with the traversal of bone from those concerned with identification of interfaces detectable by examining pulses alone. A resolution capability of 1 mm and an accuracy of localization of ±0.5 mm are achieved. All definitive echoes in the echograms are identified, and quantitative comparison of the anatomic information obtained with brain atlases is presented. The analytic determination of length scaling factors and relative angular orientation values for the subject's ultrasonically-viewed tissue cross sections and those of an atlas are also illustrated.
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