Apparatuses, systems, and methods for preclinical ultrasound imaging of subjects

A method for preclinical ultrasound imaging of a preclinical subject, the method comprising:

• movably positioning a platform including an aperture and an acoustic coupling medium impermeable membrane on which a preclinical subject is positionable, the platform supporting the preclinical subject from beneath the preclinical subject, wherein the preclinical subject comprises a small animal;
• providing a reservoir located beneath the platform and containing an acoustic coupling medium;
• wherein the acoustic coupling medium impermeable membrane is sealed to the platform via a rigid frame and covers the aperture to prevent the small animal from being submerged in the acoustic coupling medium;
• locating at least one ultrasound transducer beneath the platform and in the coupling medium for movably scanning the preclinical small animal from beneath the platform and from within the acoustic coupling medium;
• controlling, by at least two motion stages, a spatial position of the at least one ultrasound transducer relative to the platform;
• and
• acquiring ultrasound image data of the small animal, wherein the at least two motion stages include a first motion stage for moving the at least one ultrasound transducer in a first direction along a first axis and a second motion stage for moving the at least one ultrasound transducer in a second direction that is non-parallel to the first direction and the at least two motion stages are not components of the at least one ultrasound transducer, the at least two motion stages are configured to move the at least one ultrasound transducer in a pattern in which the at least one ultrasound transducer is scanned along parallel coplanar lines in the first direction that are spaced from each other in the second direction and the second direction is perpendicular to the first direction, wherein the at least two motion stages are movable to allow generation of a three-dimensional (3D) volume ultrasound image of the small.

A system for preclinical ultrasound raster scanning of at least one organ or tissue in a preclinical subject, the system comprising:

• at least one ultrasound imaging system;
• at least one ultrasound transducer associated with the at least one ultrasound imaging system and positionable relative to a preclinical subject, wherein the preclinical subject comprises a small animal;
• an apparatus comprising:
• a platform including an aperture and an acoustic coupling medium impermeable membrane on which the preclinical subject small animal is positionable, the platform supporting the small animal from beneath the small animal;
• a reservoir located beneath the platform and containing an acoustic coupling medium;
• wherein the acoustic coupling medium impermeable membrane is sealed to the platform via a rigid frame and covers the aperture to prevent the small animal from being submerged in the acoustic coupling medium;
• wherein the at least one ultrasound transducer is located beneath the platform and in the acoustic coupling medium for movably scanning the small animal from beneath the platform and from within the acoustic coupling medium;
• and
• at least two motion stages for controlling a spatial position of the at least one ultrasound transducer relative to the platform in order to acquire ultrasound image data of the small animal, wherein the at least two motion stages include a first motion stage for moving the at least one ultrasound transducer in a first direction along a first axis and a second motion stage for moving the at least one ultrasound transducer in a second direction that is non-parallel to the first direction and the at least two motion stages are not components of at least one ultrasound transducer, the at least two motion stages are configured to move the at least one ultrasound transducer in a pattern in which the at least one ultrasound transducer is scanned along parallel coplanar lines in the first direction that are spaced from each other in the second direction and the second direction is perpendicular to the first direction;
• and
• a computing platform having a hardware processor and a memory and being associated with the at least one ultrasound imaging system and the apparatus, wherein the computing platform is configured to collect one-dimensional (1D) ultrasound scan lines through translation of the at least one ultrasound transducer through the pattern aligned over an approximation of a location of at least one organ or tissue in the small animal, and to analyze the 1D ultrasound scan lines to build a two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional mesh of relevant surfaces of the at least one organ or tissue, wherein the at least two motion stages are movable to allow generation of a three-dimensional (3D) volume ultrasound image of the small animal.