High-resolution and high-contrast ultrafast ultrasound imaging using coherent plane wave adaptive compounding

Hashemseresht, Maryam; Afrakhteh, Sajjad; Behnam, Hamid

doi:10.1016/j.bspc.2021.103446

Cited by 26 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…In the case of Tx-ADMAS beamforming, moreover, its computational complexity can be significantly reduced to a comparable level similar to the conventional CPWC beamforming (i.e.,

). An alternative solution to reduce the computation burden of the proposed TxMV-ADMAS beamforming method is the adoption of kernel-based MV weighting as suggested in [ 41 ]. Specifically, the covariance matrix is constructed from all pixels in the kernel such that the resultant MV weighting is derived from only one matrix inversion and is then applied to all pixels in the corresponding kernel.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improvement in Multi-Angle Plane Wave Image Quality Using Minimum Variance Beamforming with Adaptive Signal Coherence

Shen,

Huang

2024

Sensors

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For ultrasound multi-angle plane wave (PW) imaging, the coherent PW compounding (CPWC) method provides limited image quality because of its conventional delay-and-sum beamforming. The delay-multiply-and-sum (DMAS) method is a coherence-based algorithm that improves image quality by introducing signal coherence among either receiving channels or PW transmit angles into the image output. The degree of signal coherence in DMAS is conventionally a global value for the entire image and thus the image resolution and contrast in the target region improves at the cost of speckle quality in the background region. In this study, the adaptive DMAS (ADMAS) is proposed such that the degree of signal coherence relies on the local characteristics of the image region to maintain the background speckle quality and the corresponding contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). Subsequently, the ADMAS algorithm is further combined with minimum variance (MV) beamforming to increase the image resolution. The optimal MV estimation is determined to be in the direction of the PW transmit angle (Tx) for multi-angle PW imaging. Our results show that, using the PICMUS dataset, TxMV-ADMAS beamforming significantly improves the image quality compared with CPWC. When the p value is globally fixed to 2 as in conventional DMAS, though the main-lobe width and the image contrast in the experiments improve from 0.57 mm and 27.0 dB in CPWC, respectively, to 0.24 mm and 38.0 dB, the corresponding CNR decreases from 12.8 to 11.3 due to the degraded speckle quality. With the proposed ADMAS algorithm, however, the adaptive p value in DMAS beamforming helps to restore the CNR value to the same level of CPWC while the improvement in image resolution and contrast remains evident.

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“…In the case of Tx-ADMAS beamforming, moreover, its computational complexity can be significantly reduced to a comparable level similar to the conventional CPWC beamforming (i.e.,

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improvement in Multi-Angle Plane Wave Image Quality Using Minimum Variance Beamforming with Adaptive Signal Coherence

Shen,

Huang

2024

Sensors

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“…However, These techniques compromise image quality. Beam synthesis methods [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] offer a moderate enhancement in image quality. Nevertheless, the compounding process reduces the frame rate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plane-wave medical image reconstruction based on dynamic Criss-Cross attention and multi-scale convolution

Yang,

Bian,

Yang

et al. 2024

THC

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BACKGROUND: Plane-wave imaging is widely employed in medical imaging due to its ultra-fast imaging speed. However, the image quality is compromised. Existing techniques to enhance image quality tend to sacrifice the imaging frame rate. OBJECTIVE: The study aims to reconstruct high-quality plane-wave images while maintaining the imaging frame rate. METHODS: The proposed method utilizes a U-Net-based generator incorporating a multi-scale convolution module in the encoder to extract information at different levels. Additionally, a Dynamic Criss-Cross Attention (DCCA) mechanism is proposed in the decoder of the U-Net-based generator to extract both local and global features of plane-wave images while avoiding interference caused by irrelevant regions. RESULTS: In the reconstruction of point targets, the experimental images achieved a reduction in Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) of 0.0499 mm, compared to the Coherent Plane-Wave Compounding (CPWC) method using 75-beam plane waves. For the reconstruction of cyst targets, the simulated image achieved a 3.78% improvement in Contrast Ratio (CR) compared to CPWC. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed model effectively addresses the issue of unclear lesion sites in plane-wave images.

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“…However, we just gave a brief introduction of the concept and did not explain in detail the potential applications and main theory behind the improvement of AR. Several researchers [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ] also implemented and compared our proposed method, but the results they obtained and presented had several flaws. First, the dynamic range used to present all the B-mode images in their work was 70 dB, which was very high compared to the conventional range of 40 to 60 dB.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancement of Ultrasound B-Mode Image Quality Using Nonlinear Filtered-Multiply-and-Sum Compounding for Improved Carotid Artery Segmentation

et al. 2023

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In ultrasound B-mode imaging, the axial resolution (AR) is commonly determined by the duration or bandwidth of an excitation signal. A shorter-duration pulse will produce better resolution compared to a longer one but with compromised penetration depth. Instead of relying on the pulse duration or bandwidth to improve the AR, an alternative method termed filtered multiply and sum (FMAS) has been introduced in our previous work. For spatial-compounding, FMAS uses the autocorrelation technique as used in filtered-delay multiply and sum (FDMAS), instead of conventional averaging. FMAS enables a higher frame rate and less computational complexity than conventional plane-wave compound imaging beamformed with delay and sum (DAS) and FDMAS. Moreover, it can provide an improved contrast ratio and AR. In previous work, no explanation was given on how FMAS was able to improve the AR. Thus, in this work, we discuss in detail the theory behind the proposed FMAS algorithm and how it is able to improve the spatial resolution mainly in the axial direction. Simulations, experimental phantom measurements and in vivo studies were conducted to benchmark the performance of the proposed method. We also demonstrate how the suggested new algorithm may be used in a practical biomedical imaging application. The balloon snake active contour segmentation technique was applied to the ultrasound B-mode image of a common carotid artery produced with FMAS. The suggested method is capable of reducing the number of iterations for the snake to settle on the region-of-interest contour, accelerating the segmentation process.

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High-resolution and high-contrast ultrafast ultrasound imaging using coherent plane wave adaptive compounding

Cited by 26 publications

References 25 publications

Improvement in Multi-Angle Plane Wave Image Quality Using Minimum Variance Beamforming with Adaptive Signal Coherence

Improvement in Multi-Angle Plane Wave Image Quality Using Minimum Variance Beamforming with Adaptive Signal Coherence

Plane-wave medical image reconstruction based on dynamic Criss-Cross attention and multi-scale convolution

Enhancement of Ultrasound B-Mode Image Quality Using Nonlinear Filtered-Multiply-and-Sum Compounding for Improved Carotid Artery Segmentation

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