A model for reflectivity enhancement due to surface bound submicrometer particles

Submicrometer particles filled with liquid perfluorocarbon have been shown to increase the ultrasound reflectivity of surfaces onto which they bind and, consequently, are seen as potential targeted contrast agents. The objective of this study is to explain the reflectivity enhancement as a result of the presence of randomly distributed particles on a surface. A model is presented where the diffraction-weighted scattering of all particles is summed over the exposed surface. Experiments were performed at frequencies ranging from 15 MHz to 60 MHz, with glass microbeads and perfluorohexane particles deposited on the surface of agar and Aqualene, a rubber closely matched to water, to confirm the validity of the model. Results showed that the model predicts the surface density and the frequency dependence of the reflectivity enhancement up to a density corresponding to twice the maximum packing of spheres on a surface (200% confluence fraction) for glass beads and a fifth (20% confluence fraction) for perfluorohexane particles. This suggests the possibility of predicting signal enhancement due to a bound contrast agent in simple geometries. (E-mail: olicou@swri.ca)