Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is one of the most useful tools available today to assist intravascular stenting procedures. Having higher resolution is very important for helping doctors to evaluate the nature of atherosclerotic plaques. The current commercial IVUS systems have a spatial resolution of 70– $200~\mu \text{m}$ in the axial direction and 200– $400~\mu \text{m}$ in the lateral direction, which are insufficient for accurate diagnosis. We report here a three-matching-layer IVUS transducer design using a 0.72Pb(Mg _1/3 Nb _2/3 O ₃ – 0.28PbTiO ₃ single crystal, which can improve the axial resolution to $40~\mu \text{m}$ without sacrificing the penetration depth. Wire phantom imaging and in vitro porcine coronary artery imaging show noticeably better axial resolution and similar penetration depth compared with a commercial IVUS transducer.

中文翻译：

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轴向分辨率为40μm的单晶高频血管内超声换能器。

血管内超声（IVUS）是当今可用于协助血管内支架置入术的最有用工具之一。具有较高的分辨率对于帮助医生评估动脉粥样硬化斑块的性质非常重要。当前的商用IVUS系统的空间分辨率为70– $ 200〜\ mu \ text {m} $ 在轴向和200– $ 400〜\ mu \ text {m} $ 不足以进行准确诊断。我们在这里报告使用0.72Pb（Mg的三匹配层IVUS传感器设计 _1/3 的Nb _2/3 ö ₃ - 0.28PbTiO ₃单晶，从而可以提高轴向分辨率，以 $ 40〜\ mu \ text {m} $ 而不会牺牲穿透深度。线模成像和体外 与商用IVUS换能器相比，猪冠状动脉成像显示出明显更好的轴向分辨率和相似的穿透深度。