There is an urgent need for improved diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular conditions, such as aneurysms and arterial stenosis. For instance, rupture of abdominal-aortic aneurysms (AAAs) is among the leading causes of sudden death. Information about the 3D blood flow in the vessel and 3D assessment of the properties of the vessel wall would greatly improve the risk assessment, allowing for optimization of vascular therapy, avoiding unnecessary risky and costly interventions, and reducing patient mortality and morbidity.

Current ultrasound probes are unable to provide this important 3D information, as they can only provide 2D cross-sectional images at low frame rates, while 3D images of the vessel taken at >1000 frames per second are needed. Within the Dutch Perspectief Programme Ultra-X-treme, we have investigated the imaging techniques and transducer technology required to enable this, resulting in the development of a unique ultrafast 3D probe prototype, combining application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) developed at TU Delft with capacitive micro-machined ultrasound transducers (CMUTs) developed by Philips.

However, further development of this promising technology towards clinical applications is hindered by hardware complexity and fabrication challenges. In this project, TU Delft and Philips spin-off XIVER collaborate to address these challenges, by improving the CMUT-on-ASIC technology and investigating techniques to improve robustness and reduce size and complexity of the probe. We will realize a new generation of prototypes that will pave the way towards improved diagnosis of cardiovascular conditions, as well as many other new 3D imaging applications.