The objective of this proposal is to extend our previous advances to investigate real time 3-D ultrasound imaging of the brain for the diagnosis and evaluation of stroke. Over the last decade, with the availability of color flow Doppler combined with effective ultrasound contrast agents, a renaissance has occurred in transcranial sonography as a low cost, bedside method for evaluation and management of patients with cerebrovascular disease in spite of the image degrading properties of the skull. Our hypothesis is that we can combine new generations of 2D array transducers with ultrasound contrast agents and phase aberration correction to enable real time 3D ultrasound imaging and 3D color flow Doppler of the brain with a factor of 10 improvement in spatial resolution compared to conventional transcranial sonography for improved diagnosis and evaluation of stroke.
