A Stretchable, Wearable Ultrasound Transducer for Wide-Scale Breast Cancer Data Collection

An ultrasound patch may conform to a curved surface of a large, curvilinear part of a human body, and may capture ultrasound images of underlying tissue for detection of disease. The patch may comprise a flexible, elastomeric substrate, in which phased arrays of piezoelectric ultrasound transducers are embedded. The phased arrays may steer ultrasound beams through a wide angle to image a large volume of tissue. Mechanical deformation of the flexible substrate as it conforms to a curvilinear body part may change the relative 3D positions of the phase arrays. However, localization may be performed to detect these 3D positions. Data captured by the phased arrays may be processed, to create an ultrasound image of the underlying tissue. A semi-flexible, intermediate layer may partially encapsulate each phased array, to distribute stress at an interface between the rigid phased array and more flexible substrate.