Ultrafast Ultrasound Imaging

Among medical imaging modalities, such as computed tomography (CT) and
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound imaging stands out due to its
temporal resolution. Owing to the nature of medical ultrasound imaging, it has been
used for not only observation of the morphology of living organs but also functional
imaging, such as blood flow imaging and evaluation of the cardiac function. Ultrafast
ultrasound imaging, which has recently become widely available, significantly
increases the opportunities for medical functional imaging. Ultrafast ultrasound
imaging typically enables imaging frame-rates of up to ten thousand frames per
second (fps). Due to the extremely high temporal resolution, this enables
visualization of rapid dynamic responses of biological tissues, which cannot be
observed and analyzed by conventional ultrasound imaging. This Special Issue
includes various studies of improvements to the performance of ultrafast ultrasound.