My research spans the ultrasound areas of imaging, quantitative ultrasound, acoustic contrast agents, transducer design, acoustic field characterization, instrumentation, and photoacoustics, and therapy. I have a particular focus on high-frequency ultrasound for ophthalmology and small-animal imaging. I developed high-frequency annular-array transducer technology that provides linear-array image quality but with the simplicity of a single-element system. I advanced the annular-array technology to the point where we were able to obtain human-subject ophthalmic data and in utero mouse embryo data. We are currently using this technology to quantify vitreous inhomogeneities as they relate to age and diseases such as myopia.
I am also active in the emerging field of high-speed, plane-wave imaging. We obtained high-speed Doppler data from the choroid of human subjects. We also showed that high-speed vector-flow imaging could be applied to mouse cardiac imaging, and we studied a mouse model with a temperature-sensitive cardiac dyssynchrony that caused disrupted left ventricular flow patterns and a mouse model of dilated cardiomyopathy. The goal of these studies is to detect cardiovascular disease at a very early stage by detecting subtle changes in blood flow patterns in the heart or aorta.
Therapeutic work I have been involved with includes the characterization of the extremely high-pressure fields of shock-wave lithotripters. To do this, we fabricated disposable acoustic sensor arrays using the techniques developed for the annular-array transducers. I was also part of a team that used high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to treat cardiac disease. We are currently interested in using focused ultrasound technology to treat skin conditions such as warts.
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Biography
Dr. Ketterling is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Professor of Biomedical Imaging in the Masters Degree Program in Biomedical Imaging. His research is focused on the development and translation of ultrasound technology to basic science, preclinical and clinical applications. His projects have included high-frequency annular arrays for small-animal and ophthalmic imaging, acoustic contrast agents for microcirculation imaging, vector-flow imaging of blood-flow patterns in animal models, high-speed plane-wave imaging and hydrophone arrays for characterizing the instantaneous acoustic fields of lithotripters.
Distinctions:
Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America
Fellow of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
Distinguished Investigator of the Academy for Radiology & Biomedical Imaging Research
