Abstract

CARLSON, Craig S.; DEROUBAIX, Aurélie; PENNY, Clement  and  POSTEMA, Michiel. On the Attenuation of Ultrasound by Pure Black Tattoo Ink. SAIEE ARJ [online]. 2021, vol.112, n.1, pp.24-31. ISSN 1991-1696.

Black tattoo ink comprises hydrophobic carbon black nanoparticles. We hypothesized that black tattoo ink demonstrates transient dynamic activity in an ultrasound field. Brightness-mode sonography was performed on cylindrical receptacles of different bore diameters, filled with black tattoo ink, water, saline, or air, using pulsed ultrasound with center frequencies of 13 MHz and 5 MHz. The scattering from black ink itself lasted less than ten minutes. At 13-MHz sonication, a transient drop in sound speed was observed, as well as a transient lessening of scattering from distal phantom tissue. The linear acoustic attenuation coefficient of pure black ink was measured to be 0.15±0.01 dB cm^-1 MHz¹, equal to whole blood. Low-intensity ultrasonic tattoo removal would be of interest as an alternative to techniques that damage surrounding tissue.

Keywords : Carbon black; C65 acoustics; high-frequency sonication; diagnostic ultrasound; particle detection; tattoo detection; hydrophobic nanoparticles.

        · text in English     · English ( pdf )