Whole-Body Human Ultrasound Tomography

Whole-Body Human Ultrasound Tomography | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Whole-Body Human Ultrasound Tomography Lihong Wang, David Garrett, Jinhua Xu, Yousuf Aborahama, Geng Ku, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4714949/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 24 Apr, 2026 Read the published version in Nature Biomedical Engineering → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Ultrasonography is a vital component of modern clinical care, with handheld probes routinely used for a variety of applications. However, handheld ultrasound imaging is limited by factors such as the partial-body field of view, operator dependency, contact-induced distortion, and lack of transmission contrast. Here, we demonstrate a new system enabling whole-body ultrasound tomography of humans in reflection and transmission modes. To generate 2D isotropically resolved images across the entire cross-section in vivo , we use a custom 512-element circular ultrasound receiver array with a rotating ultrasonic transmitter. We demonstrate this technique in regions such as the abdomen and legs in healthy volunteers. We also showcase two potential clinical extensions. First, we readily observe subcutaneous and preperitoneal abdominal adipose distributions in our images, enabling adipose thickness assessment over the body without ionizing radiation or mechanical deformation. Second, we demonstrate an approach for rapid (seven frame-per-second) biopsy needle localization with respect to internal tissue features. These capabilities make whole-body ultrasound tomography a potential practical tool for clinical needs currently unmet by other modalities. Biological sciences/Biological techniques/Imaging/Ultrasound Physical sciences/Engineering/Biomedical engineering Full Text Additional Declarations Yes there is potential Competing Interest. L.V.W. has a financial interest in Microphotoacoustics, Inc., CalPACT, LLC, and Union Photoacoustic Technologies, Ltd., which, however, did not support this work. D.C.G., J.X., G.K., and L.V.W. have a provisional patent application titled “Thermoacoustic and ultrasound tomography”, U.S. Patent App. 18/336,863, through the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. The rest of the authors declare that they have no competing interests. Supplementary Files Video1biopsyneedle.mp4 Supplementary video 1. UST biopsy needle localization Video2transmitterrotation.mp4 Supplementary video 2. UST transmitter scanning USTnatBMESupplementary20240708.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 24 Apr, 2026 Read the published version in Nature Biomedical Engineering → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4714949","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":327368720,"identity":"3173421e-a656-40e9-b2bd-15df0c2f6abd","order_by":0,"name":"Lihong Wang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAsElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACPgYGxgcMDBZAJg8QsxGhBaiG2YCBQUKCJC1sEiRqkcgxq/hRI1HHz372AMOHssPEabnZc0xCQrInL4FxxjlitPCc3XYbqFHC4AaPATNvG5Faihn+SUjYg7T8JUoLe+82ZsY2oC0SQC2MxGnp/yzZ2ychOeNMjsHBnnPphLXwM7MlfvjxzYafv/2M4YMfZdaEtaCAAySqHwWjYBSMglGACwAATEwvxUUDfVUAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9783-4383","institution":"California Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lihong","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":327368721,"identity":"d17f29bf-c603-4bbb-9c0f-58b65f426b16","order_by":1,"name":"David Garrett","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9747-8494","institution":"California Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"David","middleName":"","lastName":"Garrett","suffix":""},{"id":327368722,"identity":"d9227c3f-84aa-4f39-a221-7143a97bcb13","order_by":2,"name":"Jinhua Xu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"California Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jinhua","middleName":"","lastName":"Xu","suffix":""},{"id":327368723,"identity":"eeba42b9-4bfa-44ac-ace3-808c1c9c4c75","order_by":3,"name":"Yousuf Aborahama","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9527-8923","institution":"California Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yousuf","middleName":"","lastName":"Aborahama","suffix":""},{"id":327368724,"identity":"c0fdff00-0981-458c-a8d7-67dce97af0de","order_by":4,"name":"Geng Ku","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"California Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Geng","middleName":"","lastName":"Ku","suffix":""},{"id":327368725,"identity":"6f24382a-bb86-4273-bf68-9655f27e9807","order_by":5,"name":"Konstantin Maslov","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"California Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Konstantin","middleName":"","lastName":"Maslov","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-07-10 02:15:33","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4714949/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4714949/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-026-01660-4","type":"published","date":"2026-04-24T04:00:00+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":107775897,"identity":"29ab5cb6-2a6f-4e5e-a645-8dc940c46956","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-25 07:07:50","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":880965,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"USTnatBME20240708.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4714949/v1_covered_425b62d0-e7de-4a60-af22-6da2985c1f50.pdf"},{"id":60462035,"identity":"148234ac-4070-4355-80c9-f18eceb94e84","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-07-17 04:09:09","extension":"mp4","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":992576,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary video 1. 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