Pub Date : 2025-03-19DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3570971
Gaofei Jin;Yi Zeng;Hui Zhu;Guotao Quan;Xiran Cai;Dean Ta
In microbubble (MB) cavitation-mediated blood-brain barrier (BBB) opening, prior knowledge of the skull’s sound speed properties is required to correct phase aberration and achieve accurate localization of the cavitation source using transcranial passive acoustic mapping (TPAM). Current approaches predominantly rely on CT scans to generate an empirically sound speed map (SSM) for correction after registering the two imaging modalities. This increases hardware complexity and cost while introducing additional errors from the registration process and the empirical sound speed values in the SSM. Here, we propose an all-ultrasound (US), single-probe method for refraction-corrected TPAM. This method first deploys the head wave technique to reconstruct an approximate multilayer SSM of the skull. This SSM is then combined with the heterogeneous angular spectrum approach (ASA) for PAM to efficiently reconstruct refraction-corrected TPAM images. In the in vitro hydrophone and MB cavitation experiments using two whole macaque calvariae, we showed that the source localization error could be reduced to a submillimeter scale with the proposed method in the area where the F-number is less than 1.2. Compared to the cases without phase aberration correction, the localization error was reduced by about 1.8–5.9 times in the corrected cases, clearly demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method for transcranial acoustic source localization. We also showed that the proposed method achieved comparable performance on correcting source localization to the CT-corrected method. These preliminary results suggest that our method represents a low-cost solution for monitoring transcranial MB cavitation activity, particularly in the cortical regions, which could facilitate the investigation of MB-mediated focused therapies in the brain and warrants further study for clinical translation.
{"title":"Single Probe Enabled Refraction-Corrected Transcranial Passive Acoustic Mapping Through Macaque Calvaria","authors":"Gaofei Jin;Yi Zeng;Hui Zhu;Guotao Quan;Xiran Cai;Dean Ta","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3570971","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3570971","url":null,"abstract":"In microbubble (MB) cavitation-mediated blood-brain barrier (BBB) opening, prior knowledge of the skull’s sound speed properties is required to correct phase aberration and achieve accurate localization of the cavitation source using transcranial passive acoustic mapping (TPAM). Current approaches predominantly rely on CT scans to generate an empirically sound speed map (SSM) for correction after registering the two imaging modalities. This increases hardware complexity and cost while introducing additional errors from the registration process and the empirical sound speed values in the SSM. Here, we propose an all-ultrasound (US), single-probe method for refraction-corrected TPAM. This method first deploys the head wave technique to reconstruct an approximate multilayer SSM of the skull. This SSM is then combined with the heterogeneous angular spectrum approach (ASA) for PAM to efficiently reconstruct refraction-corrected TPAM images. In the in vitro hydrophone and MB cavitation experiments using two whole macaque calvariae, we showed that the source localization error could be reduced to a submillimeter scale with the proposed method in the area where the F-number is less than 1.2. Compared to the cases without phase aberration correction, the localization error was reduced by about 1.8–5.9 times in the corrected cases, clearly demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method for transcranial acoustic source localization. We also showed that the proposed method achieved comparable performance on correcting source localization to the CT-corrected method. These preliminary results suggest that our method represents a low-cost solution for monitoring transcranial MB cavitation activity, particularly in the cortical regions, which could facilitate the investigation of MB-mediated focused therapies in the brain and warrants further study for clinical translation.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"72 7","pages":"920-931"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144101750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-17DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3549670
{"title":"IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Publication Information","authors":"","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3549670","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3549670","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"72 3","pages":"C2-C2"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10930336","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143637973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-16DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3570878
Benedikt George;Stefan J. Rupitsch
Diagnostic ultrasound safety indices, such as the mechanical index (MI) and the thermal index (TI), serve as approved risk estimators of bioeffects that can result from an ultrasound stimulus. However, especially in ultrasound-based indirect therapeutic applications, only the MI is reported while the TI is overlooked, possibly due to its complex calculation. To simplify the calculation, we present an analytical-numerical method for computing the TI, restricted to the −6-dB region of the ultrasound beam, based on equations provided by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards. Central to this calculation is the assumption of a linearly propagating ultrasound wave with minimal nonlinear distortion. This assumption was verified by COMSOL simulations and hydrophone measurements in a two-layer setup consisting of water and a tissue-mimicking phantom (TMP) for a single-element, spherically focusing transducer with a central opening driven at a frequency of 950 kHz. For this configuration, the peak-rarefactional pressure (PRP) was evaluated up to 1.5 MPa. To facilitate the immediate assessment of ultrasound safety, MI and TI were mapped into characteristic diagrams, correlating them with pulse durations (PDs) between 0.1 and 3.5 ms at a pulse repetition period (PRPP) of 0.1 s and PDs between 0.01 and 0.35 ms at a PRPP of 0.01 s. These diagrams serve as a practical tool for determining whether an ultrasound stimulus adheres to diagnostic safety limits for MI and TI.
{"title":"Assessing Ultrasound Safety: A Method for Correlating Stimulus Parameters With MI and TI","authors":"Benedikt George;Stefan J. Rupitsch","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3570878","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3570878","url":null,"abstract":"Diagnostic ultrasound safety indices, such as the mechanical index (MI) and the thermal index (TI), serve as approved risk estimators of bioeffects that can result from an ultrasound stimulus. However, especially in ultrasound-based indirect therapeutic applications, only the MI is reported while the TI is overlooked, possibly due to its complex calculation. To simplify the calculation, we present an analytical-numerical method for computing the TI, restricted to the −6-dB region of the ultrasound beam, based on equations provided by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards. Central to this calculation is the assumption of a linearly propagating ultrasound wave with minimal nonlinear distortion. This assumption was verified by COMSOL simulations and hydrophone measurements in a two-layer setup consisting of water and a tissue-mimicking phantom (TMP) for a single-element, spherically focusing transducer with a central opening driven at a frequency of 950 kHz. For this configuration, the peak-rarefactional pressure (PRP) was evaluated up to 1.5 MPa. To facilitate the immediate assessment of ultrasound safety, MI and TI were mapped into characteristic diagrams, correlating them with pulse durations (PDs) between 0.1 and 3.5 ms at a pulse repetition period (PRPP) of 0.1 s and PDs between 0.01 and 0.35 ms at a PRPP of 0.01 s. These diagrams serve as a practical tool for determining whether an ultrasound stimulus adheres to diagnostic safety limits for MI and TI.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"72 7","pages":"932-944"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144077705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-16DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3570735
Zibo Jiang;Kaijia Wu;Zuo-Guang Ye
Despite their excellent piezoelectric properties, relaxor-based ferroelectric crystals have not been widely used in medium- to low-frequency ultrasound transducers because of the low sensitivity arising from a low capacitance and the low signal intensity due to a weak coercive field of the piezoelectric materials. In this study, a new type of transducer has been designed and fabricated by stacking two PMN-0.27PT crystals of opposite polarizations poled under optimized poling conditions, which exhibits an enhanced element capacitance and improved piezoelectric performance, leading to a better sensitivity and a broader bandwidth. It is found that using the optimized condition of low-voltage alternative current poling (ACP) (square wave 205 Vrms/mm, three cycles at 0.1 Hz) at a medium temperature of $65~^{circ }$ C [medium-temperature low-voltage ACP MT-LV ACP)], the relative permittivity of the crystal is increased by 16%, the electromechancial coupling factor increased by 6%, and the piezoelectric coefficient increased by 27%, compared with the conventional direct current poling at room temperature (RT DCP). The 200-kHz single-element transducer fabricated from the MT-LV ACP single-layer PMN-0.27PT crystal exhibits a −6-dB bandwidth that is increased by 6.4% and a receiver free field voltage response that is increased by 23.6%, respectively, compared with a similar transducer made from RT DCP single-layer PMN-0.27PT. In addition, the transducer fabricated from two stacked PMN-0.27PT platelets of identical thicknesses but opposite poling directions not only produce similar center frequency and bandwidth as the transducer made from single layer crystal of the same height but also produce quadrupled element capacitance, which leads to a much better electrical impedance match, resulting in a sensitivity increase up to 224%.
{"title":"Enhanced Performance of 200-kHz PMN-PT Crystal Transducers Through Medium-Temperature AC Poling and Electrically Parallel Stacking","authors":"Zibo Jiang;Kaijia Wu;Zuo-Guang Ye","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3570735","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3570735","url":null,"abstract":"Despite their excellent piezoelectric properties, relaxor-based ferroelectric crystals have not been widely used in medium- to low-frequency ultrasound transducers because of the low sensitivity arising from a low capacitance and the low signal intensity due to a weak coercive field of the piezoelectric materials. In this study, a new type of transducer has been designed and fabricated by stacking two PMN-0.27PT crystals of opposite polarizations poled under optimized poling conditions, which exhibits an enhanced element capacitance and improved piezoelectric performance, leading to a better sensitivity and a broader bandwidth. It is found that using the optimized condition of low-voltage alternative current poling (ACP) (square wave 205 Vrms/mm, three cycles at 0.1 Hz) at a medium temperature of <inline-formula> <tex-math>$65~^{circ }$ </tex-math></inline-formula>C [medium-temperature low-voltage ACP MT-LV ACP)], the relative permittivity of the crystal is increased by 16%, the electromechancial coupling factor increased by 6%, and the piezoelectric coefficient increased by 27%, compared with the conventional direct current poling at room temperature (RT DCP). The 200-kHz single-element transducer fabricated from the MT-LV ACP single-layer PMN-0.27PT crystal exhibits a −6-dB bandwidth that is increased by 6.4% and a receiver free field voltage response that is increased by 23.6%, respectively, compared with a similar transducer made from RT DCP single-layer PMN-0.27PT. In addition, the transducer fabricated from two stacked PMN-0.27PT platelets of identical thicknesses but opposite poling directions not only produce similar center frequency and bandwidth as the transducer made from single layer crystal of the same height but also produce quadrupled element capacitance, which leads to a much better electrical impedance match, resulting in a sensitivity increase up to 224%.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"72 7","pages":"979-986"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144077649","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-16DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3570732
Robert Wodnicki;Josquin Foiret;Baoqiang Liu;Ning Lu;Xin Sun;Junhang Zhang;Haochen Kang;Lei Fu;Christophe Notard;Mathieu Legros;Chi-Feng Chang;Jesse T. Yen;Qifa Zhou;Katherine W. Ferrara
Large-aperture 2-D arrays benefit from improved lateral resolution at depth, due to the dependence of beamwidth on the inverse of the aperture width, and improved contrast resolution due to electronic focusing. We have been developing modular large-aperture multirow 1024 (64 azimuth $times 16$ elevation) element, 2-D arrays based on custom-designed and locally integrated application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) multiplexing devices. The implemented handheld large-array prototype probe for human imaging consists of multiple rows with multiplexed synthetic aperture in elevation and planewave transmits in azimuth. The pitch of the acoustic array is $650~mu $ m in azimuth by $1000~mu $ m in elevation, with a 2.4 MHz fractional bandwidth (FBW =88%) center frequency and total active aperture of $42times 16$ mm. We interfaced the large aperture array and multiplexing ASICs, along with local preamplifier devices for improved sensitivity, and a local FPGA for digital ASIC control, to a configurable ultrasound imaging platform and demonstrate 2-D orthogonal and full 3D beamformed imaging. The implemented imaging prototype includes local buffering for improved sensitivity of the high-impedance 2-D array elements, and realizes penetration down to 140 mm, experimental lateral/axial resolution at 67 mm of 1.1/0.4 mm, and maximum experimental CNR of 2.1 for 8 mm cylindrical cysts and 1.7 for 10 mm spherical cysts. We demonstrate in vivo imaging of liver in human volunteers utilizing a hermetically sealed and safety-validated handheld prototype of the large 2-D array. Preliminary results are promising for clinical imaging in future studies.
{"title":"Handheld Large 2-D Array With Azimuthal Planewave and Row-Multiplexed Elevation Beamforming Enabled by Local ASIC Electronics","authors":"Robert Wodnicki;Josquin Foiret;Baoqiang Liu;Ning Lu;Xin Sun;Junhang Zhang;Haochen Kang;Lei Fu;Christophe Notard;Mathieu Legros;Chi-Feng Chang;Jesse T. Yen;Qifa Zhou;Katherine W. Ferrara","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3570732","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3570732","url":null,"abstract":"Large-aperture 2-D arrays benefit from improved lateral resolution at depth, due to the dependence of beamwidth on the inverse of the aperture width, and improved contrast resolution due to electronic focusing. We have been developing modular large-aperture multirow 1024 (64 azimuth <inline-formula> <tex-math>$times 16$ </tex-math></inline-formula> elevation) element, 2-D arrays based on custom-designed and locally integrated application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) multiplexing devices. The implemented handheld large-array prototype probe for human imaging consists of multiple rows with multiplexed synthetic aperture in elevation and planewave transmits in azimuth. The pitch of the acoustic array is <inline-formula> <tex-math>$650~mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula>m in azimuth by <inline-formula> <tex-math>$1000~mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula>m in elevation, with a 2.4 MHz fractional bandwidth (FBW =88%) center frequency and total active aperture of <inline-formula> <tex-math>$42times 16$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm. We interfaced the large aperture array and multiplexing ASICs, along with local preamplifier devices for improved sensitivity, and a local FPGA for digital ASIC control, to a configurable ultrasound imaging platform and demonstrate 2-D orthogonal and full 3D beamformed imaging. The implemented imaging prototype includes local buffering for improved sensitivity of the high-impedance 2-D array elements, and realizes penetration down to 140 mm, experimental lateral/axial resolution at 67 mm of 1.1/0.4 mm, and maximum experimental CNR of 2.1 for 8 mm cylindrical cysts and 1.7 for 10 mm spherical cysts. We demonstrate in vivo imaging of liver in human volunteers utilizing a hermetically sealed and safety-validated handheld prototype of the large 2-D array. Preliminary results are promising for clinical imaging in future studies.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"72 7","pages":"962-978"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144077656","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-15DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3570496
Renxian Wang;Wei-Ning Lee
Ultrasound localization microscopy (ULM) has revolutionized microvascular imaging by breaking the acoustic diffraction limit. However, different ULM workflows depend heavily on distinct prior knowledge, such as the impulse response and empirical selection of parameters (e.g., the number of microbubbles (MBs) per frame M), or the consistency of training-test dataset in deep learning (DL)-based studies. We hereby propose a general ULM pipeline that reduces priors. Our approach leverages a DL model that simultaneously distills MB signals and reduces speckles from every frame without estimating the impulse response and M. Our method features an efficient channel attention Vision Transformer (ViT) and a progressive learning strategy, enabling it to learn global information through training on progressively increasing patch sizes. Ample synthetic data were generated using the k-Wave toolbox to simulate various MB patterns, thus overcoming the deficiency of labeled data. The ViT output was further processed by a standard radial symmetry (RS) method for subpixel localization. Our method performed well on model-unseen public datasets: one in silico dataset with ground truth (GT) and four in vivo datasets of mouse tumor, rat brain, rat brain bolus, and rat kidney. Our pipeline outperformed conventional ULM, achieving higher positive predictive values (precision in DL, 0.88–0.41 versus 0.83–0.16) and improved accuracy (root-mean-square errors (RMSEs): 0.25–$0.14~lambda $ versus 0.31–$0.13~lambda $ ) across a range of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) from 60 to 10 dB. Our model could detect more vessels in diverse in vivo datasets while achieving comparable resolutions to the standard method. The proposed ViT-based model, seamlessly integrated with state-of-the-art downstream ULM steps, improved the overall ULM performance with no priors.
超声定位显微镜（ULM）突破了声学衍射极限，彻底改变了微血管成像。然而，不同的ULM工作流程在很大程度上依赖于不同的先验知识，例如脉冲响应和参数的经验选择（例如，每帧M的微泡数量（mb）），或者基于深度学习（DL）的研究中训练测试数据集的一致性。我们在此提出一个通用的ULM管道，减少先验。我们的方法利用DL模型，该模型同时提取微泡信号并减少每帧的斑点，而无需估计脉冲响应和m。我们的方法具有有效的通道注意力视觉转换器（ViT）和渐进式学习策略，使其能够通过逐渐增加的斑块大小的训练来学习全局信息。利用k-Wave工具箱生成了大量的合成数据来模拟各种MB模式，从而克服了标记数据的不足。采用标准径向对称方法对ViT输出进行亚像素定位。我们的方法在模型不可见的公共数据集上表现良好：一个具有基本事实的计算机数据集和四个小鼠肿瘤、大鼠脑、大鼠脑丸和大鼠肾的体内数据集。我们的管道优于传统的ULM，在60 dB到10 dB的信噪比范围内，实现了更高的阳性预测值（DL精度，0.88-0.41 vs 0.83-0.16）和更高的精度（均方根误差：0.25-0.14 λ vs 0.31-0.13 λ）。我们的模型可以在不同的体内数据集中检测到更多的血管，同时达到与标准方法相当的分辨率。所提出的基于vit的模型与最先进的下游ULM步骤无缝集成，在没有先验的情况下提高了ULM的整体性能。
{"title":"Automated Microbubble Discrimination in Ultrasound Localization Microscopy by Vision Transformer","authors":"Renxian Wang;Wei-Ning Lee","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3570496","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3570496","url":null,"abstract":"Ultrasound localization microscopy (ULM) has revolutionized microvascular imaging by breaking the acoustic diffraction limit. However, different ULM workflows depend heavily on distinct prior knowledge, such as the impulse response and empirical selection of parameters (e.g., the number of microbubbles (MBs) per frame M), or the consistency of training-test dataset in deep learning (DL)-based studies. We hereby propose a general ULM pipeline that reduces priors. Our approach leverages a DL model that simultaneously distills MB signals and reduces speckles from every frame without estimating the impulse response and M. Our method features an efficient channel attention Vision Transformer (ViT) and a progressive learning strategy, enabling it to learn global information through training on progressively increasing patch sizes. Ample synthetic data were generated using the k-Wave toolbox to simulate various MB patterns, thus overcoming the deficiency of labeled data. The ViT output was further processed by a standard radial symmetry (RS) method for subpixel localization. Our method performed well on model-unseen public datasets: one in silico dataset with ground truth (GT) and four in vivo datasets of mouse tumor, rat brain, rat brain bolus, and rat kidney. Our pipeline outperformed conventional ULM, achieving higher positive predictive values (precision in DL, 0.88–0.41 versus 0.83–0.16) and improved accuracy (root-mean-square errors (RMSEs): 0.25–<inline-formula> <tex-math>$0.14~lambda $ </tex-math></inline-formula> versus 0.31–<inline-formula> <tex-math>$0.13~lambda $ </tex-math></inline-formula>) across a range of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) from 60 to 10 dB. Our model could detect more vessels in diverse in vivo datasets while achieving comparable resolutions to the standard method. The proposed ViT-based model, seamlessly integrated with state-of-the-art downstream ULM steps, improved the overall ULM performance with no priors.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"72 8","pages":"1134-1146"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144077726","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-15DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3570231
D. Attali;T. Tiennot;M. Tanter;J. F. Aubry
Acoustic lenses have been introduced recently to compensate for the phase distortions induced by the propagation across a human skull for ultrasonic deep-brain stimulation in humans. In this study, we present bifocal lenses that compensate for human skull aberrations and allow simultaneous targeting of multiple structures deep in the brain. We investigated the impact of phase unwrapping in the design of the lenses and how this process improves the distribution of pressure produced in ${n} =5$ human skulls for two different spatial arrangements of the targets. The results show that unwrapping the phase computed during the design increases the fidelity of the pressure field generated across the human skulls. The spatial precision is on average improved by 73%, and out-of-target energy deposition is on average reduced by 58%. The results presented in this study highlight the importance of phase unwrapping to optimize the safety and efficacy of future transcranial ultrasound stimulations (TUSs) targeting multiple regions.
{"title":"Impact of Phase Unwrapping on Multitarget Acoustic Lenses for Transcranial Holography","authors":"D. Attali;T. Tiennot;M. Tanter;J. F. Aubry","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3570231","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3570231","url":null,"abstract":"Acoustic lenses have been introduced recently to compensate for the phase distortions induced by the propagation across a human skull for ultrasonic deep-brain stimulation in humans. In this study, we present bifocal lenses that compensate for human skull aberrations and allow simultaneous targeting of multiple structures deep in the brain. We investigated the impact of phase unwrapping in the design of the lenses and how this process improves the distribution of pressure produced in <inline-formula> <tex-math>${n} =5$ </tex-math></inline-formula> human skulls for two different spatial arrangements of the targets. The results show that unwrapping the phase computed during the design increases the fidelity of the pressure field generated across the human skulls. The spatial precision is on average improved by 73%, and out-of-target energy deposition is on average reduced by 58%. The results presented in this study highlight the importance of phase unwrapping to optimize the safety and efficacy of future transcranial ultrasound stimulations (TUSs) targeting multiple regions.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"72 7","pages":"945-951"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144077787","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The development of new imaging paradigms in the field of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is hindered by the difficulty to control complex experimental variables in a laboratory setting, such as vascular geometries, nonlinear ultrasound wave propagation in tissue, or microbubble positions within vessels as a function of time. This development would greatly benefit from the ability to control and reproduce independently these conditions in a simulated environment. Here, we report a physically realistic CEUS simulator, PROTEUS, that generates synthetic contrast-enhanced radio frequency (RF) data. In this article, we show that PROTEUS enables flexible investigations of imaging parameters on CEUS, including innovative transducer architecture, such as row-column addressed arrays, microbubble size distribution, pulse sequences, and vascular geometry. We demonstrate how PROTEUS can emulate various 2-D and 3-D imaging modes, such as pulse inversion (PI) or amplitude modulation (AM), echo particle image velocimetry (PIV), or ultrasound localization microscopy (ULM). Finally, in an investigative simulation case study, we evaluate the impact of microbubble size distribution on ULM on a simulated set of 15000 frames. It is released as an open-source tool for the scientific community.
{"title":"PROTEUS: A Physically Realistic Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound Simulator—Part II: Imaging Applications","authors":"Baptiste Heiles;Nathan Blanken;Alina Kuliesh;Michel Versluis;Kartik Jain;Guillaume Lajoinie;David Maresca","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3566437","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3566437","url":null,"abstract":"The development of new imaging paradigms in the field of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is hindered by the difficulty to control complex experimental variables in a laboratory setting, such as vascular geometries, nonlinear ultrasound wave propagation in tissue, or microbubble positions within vessels as a function of time. This development would greatly benefit from the ability to control and reproduce independently these conditions in a simulated environment. Here, we report a physically realistic CEUS simulator, PROTEUS, that generates synthetic contrast-enhanced radio frequency (RF) data. In this article, we show that PROTEUS enables flexible investigations of imaging parameters on CEUS, including innovative transducer architecture, such as row-column addressed arrays, microbubble size distribution, pulse sequences, and vascular geometry. We demonstrate how PROTEUS can emulate various 2-D and 3-D imaging modes, such as pulse inversion (PI) or amplitude modulation (AM), echo particle image velocimetry (PIV), or ultrasound localization microscopy (ULM). Finally, in an investigative simulation case study, we evaluate the impact of microbubble size distribution on ULM on a simulated set of 15000 frames. It is released as an open-source tool for the scientific community.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"72 7","pages":"866-878"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143999776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Intraosseous ultrasound imaging is valuable for guiding pedicle screw placement in surgery. However, single-frequency ultrasound, whether low or high, often fails to provide both adequate imaging resolution and depth simultaneously. To address this limitation, we introduce a novel ultrafast multi-frequency ultrasound patch fusion imaging method for pedicle screw navigation. This approach combines the strengths of both high-frequency and low-frequency ultrasound images, greatly enhancing the detail and clarity of the resulting images while significantly reducing the time required for image fusion. We validated our method through simulation and ex vivo experiments, using metrics such as information entropy (IE), spatial frequency (SF), and average gradient (AG) to assess the quality of the fused images. We also recorded the algorithm’s execution time. The results demonstrate that our fusion method substantially improves image richness and clarity, enabling a more comprehensive and accurate assessment of the pedicle screw track. Importantly, it also reduces fusion time compared to previous methods, making real-time clinical multi-frequency ultrasound fusion imaging a viable possibility. The in vivo experimental results of the sheep spinal pedicle screw track further demonstrate the capabilities of the patch fusion method in visualizing the internal conditions of the pedicle screw track and meeting the requirements for real-time fusion imaging. The proposed approach offers substantial support in surgical real-time navigation and ongoing monitoring within the domains of orthopedics and surgery.
{"title":"Patch Fusion: A Novel Ultrafast Multi-Frequency Ultrasound Fusion Imaging Method for Pedicle Screw Navigation","authors":"Xiangxin Li;Xueru Yang;Jiaqi Li;Yang Jiao;Jun Shen;Yaoyao Cui;Weiwei Shao","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3549842","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3549842","url":null,"abstract":"Intraosseous ultrasound imaging is valuable for guiding pedicle screw placement in surgery. However, single-frequency ultrasound, whether low or high, often fails to provide both adequate imaging resolution and depth simultaneously. To address this limitation, we introduce a novel ultrafast multi-frequency ultrasound patch fusion imaging method for pedicle screw navigation. This approach combines the strengths of both high-frequency and low-frequency ultrasound images, greatly enhancing the detail and clarity of the resulting images while significantly reducing the time required for image fusion. We validated our method through simulation and ex vivo experiments, using metrics such as information entropy (IE), spatial frequency (SF), and average gradient (AG) to assess the quality of the fused images. We also recorded the algorithm’s execution time. The results demonstrate that our fusion method substantially improves image richness and clarity, enabling a more comprehensive and accurate assessment of the pedicle screw track. Importantly, it also reduces fusion time compared to previous methods, making real-time clinical multi-frequency ultrasound fusion imaging a viable possibility. The in vivo experimental results of the sheep spinal pedicle screw track further demonstrate the capabilities of the patch fusion method in visualizing the internal conditions of the pedicle screw track and meeting the requirements for real-time fusion imaging. The proposed approach offers substantial support in surgical real-time navigation and ongoing monitoring within the domains of orthopedics and surgery.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"72 4","pages":"467-478"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143604648","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-10DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3549637
Luuk van Knippenberg;R. Arthur Bouwman;Ruud J. G. van Sloun;Massimo Mischi
Doppler ultrasound is a noninvasive imaging technique that measures blood flow velocity and is commonly used in cardiac evaluation and vascular assessment. Compared to the conventional longitudinal view, cross-sectional Doppler is more robust to motion, making it more suitable for monitoring applications. In this article, an adaptive framework is presented to automatically monitor flow in the common carotid artery using cross-sectional Doppler. Based on vessel segmentation and geometry estimation, transmit parameters such as the focal point, steering angle, and aperture width are adaptively adjusted to optimize the Doppler angle and maximize signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The velocity profile is estimated using multiple gates along a single line, resulting in velocity estimates with high temporal resolution. The effect and optimal settings of relevant nonadaptive ultrasound parameters are explored through a design of experiments (DoE), making use of simulated and phantom data. These optimal parameters result in accurate estimates of average velocity with a mean error of 0.8% in silico and 1.6% in vitro. In addition, velocity estimates show a reduced variance and improved temporal resolution compared to conventional line-by-line scanning. Feasibility of the method is also demonstrated in vivo, where a diverse range of velocity profiles was observed. These findings suggest that this method could be feasible for automatic flow monitoring or cardiac output estimation through hemodynamic modeling.
{"title":"Adaptive Transmit Sequencing for Robust Flow Monitoring in Cross-Sectional Doppler","authors":"Luuk van Knippenberg;R. Arthur Bouwman;Ruud J. G. van Sloun;Massimo Mischi","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3549637","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TUFFC.2025.3549637","url":null,"abstract":"Doppler ultrasound is a noninvasive imaging technique that measures blood flow velocity and is commonly used in cardiac evaluation and vascular assessment. Compared to the conventional longitudinal view, cross-sectional Doppler is more robust to motion, making it more suitable for monitoring applications. In this article, an adaptive framework is presented to automatically monitor flow in the common carotid artery using cross-sectional Doppler. Based on vessel segmentation and geometry estimation, transmit parameters such as the focal point, steering angle, and aperture width are adaptively adjusted to optimize the Doppler angle and maximize signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The velocity profile is estimated using multiple gates along a single line, resulting in velocity estimates with high temporal resolution. The effect and optimal settings of relevant nonadaptive ultrasound parameters are explored through a design of experiments (DoE), making use of simulated and phantom data. These optimal parameters result in accurate estimates of average velocity with a mean error of 0.8% in silico and 1.6% in vitro. In addition, velocity estimates show a reduced variance and improved temporal resolution compared to conventional line-by-line scanning. Feasibility of the method is also demonstrated in vivo, where a diverse range of velocity profiles was observed. These findings suggest that this method could be feasible for automatic flow monitoring or cardiac output estimation through hemodynamic modeling.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"72 4","pages":"515-529"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143596929","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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