Anacousticbasedinstrument,theABSAcousticBubbleSpectrometer??(ABS),wasinvestigatedforthedetectionandquantificationofbubblesinbiologicalmedia.Theseincludeviscoelasticmedia(blood),materialsofvaryingdensity(boneintissue),non-homogenousdistributionofbubbles(intravenousbubblyflow),andbubblesmigratingintissue(decompressionsickness,DCS).TheperformanceoftheABSwasdemonstratedinaseriesoflaboratoryexperiments.Validationofthecodewasperformedusingaviscoelasticpolymersolution,Polyox,inwhichthebubblesizedistributionandvoidfractionweredeterminedbyABSmeasurementsandwithimageanalysisofhighspeedvideos.ThesetestsshowedthattheaccuracyoftheABSwasnotsignificantlyaffectedbyviscoelasticityforbubblessmallerthan200microns.TheABSdetectionandmeasurementofnon-homogenousbubbledistributionswasdemonstratedusingabubblyflowthroughasimulatedveinsurroundedbytissue.Thescatterofacousticsignalsduetobonesintheacousticpathwaywasalsoinvestigated.Thesein-vitroexperimentsweredoneusingmeat(beef)asatissuesimulant.Decompressionexperimentsweredoneusingbeefmeatwhichwasheldunderwaterathighpressure(9.9atm)thenrapidlydecompressed.Bubblesizedistributionsandvoidfractioncalculationsintheseexperimentswerethenvalidatedusingimageanalysisofhighspeedvideo.Inaddition,preliminaryexperimentswereperformedwiththeUSNavyMedicalResearchCenter,demonstratingtheutilityofthemodifiedABSsystemindetectingtheevolutionofbubblesinswineundergoingdecompressionsickness(DCS).TheseresultsindicatethattheABSmaybeusedtodetectandquantifytheevolutionofbubblesin-vivoandaidinthemonitoringofDCS.
