Wave scattering from encapsulated microbubbles subject to high-frequency ultrasound: contribution of higher-order scattering modes.

The theoretical understanding of encapsulated microbubble response to high-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) excitation is still limited although some novel experimental HFUS contrast imaging techniques have been well developed. In this paper, the higher-order modal (HOM) contributions to the scattered field are studied for such microbubbles driven by 1-100 MHz ultrasound. An exact solution of all small-amplitude vibrational modes of a single encapsulated microbubble in water is given by the wave scattering theory (WST) method and compared to results obtained from Church's Rayleigh-Plesset-like model for the small-amplitude radial oscillation of a microbubble in an incompressible fluid. From numerical results, we show that the HOM field contribution is significant for scattering properties from individual Nycomed microbubbles with normalized frequency > or = 0.2. It is also shown that the multiple scattering is strengthened for monodispersed Definity microbubbles of 3 microm radius at frequencies >40 MHz. However, comparisons between the authors' analyses and known experimental data for polydispersed Definity microbubbles indicate that the HOM contributions are insignificant in attenuation estimation at frequencies <50 MHz. In conclusion, the WST model analysis suggests that HOM scattering is an important consideration for single bubbles but may be less critical in the modeling of polydispersed Definity bubbles at high frequencies.