Revolutionizing Cataract Diagnosis with High-Frequency Ultrasound Imaging

Industry: Ophthalmology, specifically in the diagnosis and treatment of cataracts.

Challenge: Cataracts cause clouding of the eye lens, impairing vision. Effective cataract
surgery requires understanding the hardness of the lens, which is challenging to measure
accurately.

How the GaGe Digitizer was Used: The GaGe Digitizer was employed to digitize ultrasonic signals received from the lens at a high sampling rate. This allowed for the detailed analysis necessary for creating Nakagami parametric images.

Extraordinary Aspects of the Paper: The study demonstrated the potential of Nakagami
imaging, a novel ultrasound technique, to accurately quantify the hardness of cataract lenses.
This technique showed a significant improvement over traditional B-mode imaging and
integrated backscatter measurements, providing both global and local assessments of lens
hardness.

Equipment & Sensors Used:

GaGe Digitizer: CS14200, 14-bit analog-to-digital converter from Gage Applied Technologies,
sampling rate of 200 MHz.

Ultrasonic Transducer: NIH Ultrasonic Transducer Resource Center, USC, CA, 35 MHz
central frequency.

Amplifier: Low-noise amplifier, Miteq 1166, Miteq Inc., Hauppauge, NY.

Filter: Band-pass filter, Model BIF-50, Mini-Circuits, Brooklyn, NY.

Pulser: AVB2-TB-C, Avtech Electrosystems Ltd, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Motor Stage: Parker Hannifin Corp., Cleveland, OH.