Nuhad A. Malalla, Pengfei Sun, Ying Chen, M. Lipkin, G. Preminger, Jun Qin
Distance driven represents a state of art method that used for reconstruction for x-ray techniques. C-arm tomography is an x-ray imaging technique that provides three dimensional information of the object by moving the C-shaped gantry around the patient. With limited view angle, C-arm system was investigated to generate volumetric data of the object with low radiation dosage and examination time. This paper is a new simulation study with two reconstruction methods based on distance driven including: simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique (SART) and Maximum Likelihood expectation maximization (MLEM). Distance driven is an efficient method that has low computation cost and free artifacts compared with other methods such as ray driven and pixel driven methods. Projection images of spherical objects were simulated with a virtual C-arm system with a total view angle of 40 degrees. Results show the ability of limited angle C-arm technique to generate three dimensional images with distance driven reconstruction.
{"title":"C-arm technique using distance driven method for nephrolithiasis and kidney stones detection","authors":"Nuhad A. Malalla, Pengfei Sun, Ying Chen, M. Lipkin, G. Preminger, Jun Qin","doi":"10.1117/12.2217213","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2217213","url":null,"abstract":"Distance driven represents a state of art method that used for reconstruction for x-ray techniques. C-arm tomography is an x-ray imaging technique that provides three dimensional information of the object by moving the C-shaped gantry around the patient. With limited view angle, C-arm system was investigated to generate volumetric data of the object with low radiation dosage and examination time. This paper is a new simulation study with two reconstruction methods based on distance driven including: simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique (SART) and Maximum Likelihood expectation maximization (MLEM). Distance driven is an efficient method that has low computation cost and free artifacts compared with other methods such as ray driven and pixel driven methods. Projection images of spherical objects were simulated with a virtual C-arm system with a total view angle of 40 degrees. Results show the ability of limited angle C-arm technique to generate three dimensional images with distance driven reconstruction.","PeriodicalId":228011,"journal":{"name":"SPIE Medical Imaging","volume":"43 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134223092","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
K. Lau, Y. Kwon, M. Aziz, R. Acciavatti, Andrew D. A. Maidment
Dual-energy contrast-enhanced digital mammography (DE CE-DM) uses an iodinated contrast agent to image the perfusion and vasculature of the breast. DE images are obtained by a weighted logarithmic subtraction of the high-energy (HE) and low-energy (LE) image pairs. We hypothesized that the optimal DE subtraction weighting factor is thickness-dependent, and developed a method for determining breast tissue composition and thickness in DE CE-DM. Phantoms were constructed using uniform blocks of 100% glandular-equivalent and 100% adipose-equivalent material. The thickness of the phantoms ranged from 3 to 8 cm, in 1 cm increments. For a given thickness, the glandular-adipose composition of the phantom was varied using different combinations of blocks. The logarithmic LE and logarithmic HE signal intensities were measured; they decrease linearly with increasing glandularity for a given thickness. The signals decrease with increasing phantom thickness and the x-ray signal decreases linearly with thickness for a given glandularity. As the thickness increases, the attenuation difference per additional glandular block decreases, indicating beam hardening. From the calibration mapping, we have demonstrated that we can predict percent glandular tissue and thickness when given two distinct signal intensities. Our results facilitate the subtraction of tissue at the boundaries of the breast, and aid in discriminating between contrast agent uptake in glandular tissue and subtraction artifacts.
{"title":"Estimating breast thickness for dual-energy subtraction in contrast-enhanced digital mammography using calibration phantoms","authors":"K. Lau, Y. Kwon, M. Aziz, R. Acciavatti, Andrew D. A. Maidment","doi":"10.1117/12.2214748","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2214748","url":null,"abstract":"Dual-energy contrast-enhanced digital mammography (DE CE-DM) uses an iodinated contrast agent to image the perfusion and vasculature of the breast. DE images are obtained by a weighted logarithmic subtraction of the high-energy (HE) and low-energy (LE) image pairs. We hypothesized that the optimal DE subtraction weighting factor is thickness-dependent, and developed a method for determining breast tissue composition and thickness in DE CE-DM. Phantoms were constructed using uniform blocks of 100% glandular-equivalent and 100% adipose-equivalent material. The thickness of the phantoms ranged from 3 to 8 cm, in 1 cm increments. For a given thickness, the glandular-adipose composition of the phantom was varied using different combinations of blocks. The logarithmic LE and logarithmic HE signal intensities were measured; they decrease linearly with increasing glandularity for a given thickness. The signals decrease with increasing phantom thickness and the x-ray signal decreases linearly with thickness for a given glandularity. As the thickness increases, the attenuation difference per additional glandular block decreases, indicating beam hardening. From the calibration mapping, we have demonstrated that we can predict percent glandular tissue and thickness when given two distinct signal intensities. Our results facilitate the subtraction of tissue at the boundaries of the breast, and aid in discriminating between contrast agent uptake in glandular tissue and subtraction artifacts.","PeriodicalId":228011,"journal":{"name":"SPIE Medical Imaging","volume":"9783 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129854744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin-film transistors (TFTs) have been widely used to build flat-panel X-ray detectors for digital radiography (DR). As the demand for low-dose X-ray imaging grows, a detector with high signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) pixel architecture emerges. “Smart” pixel is intended to use a dual-gate photosensitive TFT for sensing, storage, and switch. It differs from a conventional passive pixel sensor (PPS) and active pixel sensor (APS) in that all these three functions are combined into one device instead of three separate units in a pixel. Thus, it is expected to have high fill factor and high spatial resolution. In addition, it utilizes the amplification effect of the dual-gate photosensitive TFT to form a one-transistor APS that leads to a potentially high SNR. This paper addresses the design, optimization and evaluation of the smart pixel sensor and array for low-dose DR. We will design and optimize the smart pixel from the scintillator to TFT levels and validate it through optical and electrical simulation and experiments of a 4x4 sensor array.
{"title":"Design, optimization and evaluation of a “smart” pixel sensor array for low-dose digital radiography","authors":"Kai Wang, Xinghui Liu, H. Ou, Jun Chen","doi":"10.1117/12.2216780","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2216780","url":null,"abstract":"Amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin-film transistors (TFTs) have been widely used to build flat-panel X-ray detectors for digital radiography (DR). As the demand for low-dose X-ray imaging grows, a detector with high signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) pixel architecture emerges. “Smart” pixel is intended to use a dual-gate photosensitive TFT for sensing, storage, and switch. It differs from a conventional passive pixel sensor (PPS) and active pixel sensor (APS) in that all these three functions are combined into one device instead of three separate units in a pixel. Thus, it is expected to have high fill factor and high spatial resolution. In addition, it utilizes the amplification effect of the dual-gate photosensitive TFT to form a one-transistor APS that leads to a potentially high SNR. This paper addresses the design, optimization and evaluation of the smart pixel sensor and array for low-dose DR. We will design and optimize the smart pixel from the scintillator to TFT levels and validate it through optical and electrical simulation and experiments of a 4x4 sensor array.","PeriodicalId":228011,"journal":{"name":"SPIE Medical Imaging","volume":"44 20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133274123","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
E. Park, Junbeom Park, Dae-Hong Kim, H. Youn, H. Jeon, Jin Sung Kim, D. Kang, Ho Kyung Kim
Dual-energy imaging can enhance lesion conspicuity. However, the conventional (fast kilovoltage switching) dual-shot dual-energy imaging is vulnerable to patient motion. The single-shot method requires a special design of detector system. Alternatively, single-shot bone-suppressed imaging is possible using post-image processing combined with a filter obtained from training an artificial neural network. In this study, the authors investigate the general properties of artificial neural network filters for bone-suppressed digital radiography. The filter properties are characterized in terms of various parameters such as the size of input vector, the number of hidden units, the learning rate, and so on. The preliminary result shows that the bone-suppressed image obtained from the filter, which is designed with 5,000 teaching images from a single radiograph, results in about 95% similarity with a commercial bone-enhanced image.
{"title":"On the properties of artificial neural network filters for bone-suppressed digital radiography","authors":"E. Park, Junbeom Park, Dae-Hong Kim, H. Youn, H. Jeon, Jin Sung Kim, D. Kang, Ho Kyung Kim","doi":"10.1117/12.2216739","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2216739","url":null,"abstract":"Dual-energy imaging can enhance lesion conspicuity. However, the conventional (fast kilovoltage switching) dual-shot dual-energy imaging is vulnerable to patient motion. The single-shot method requires a special design of detector system. Alternatively, single-shot bone-suppressed imaging is possible using post-image processing combined with a filter obtained from training an artificial neural network. In this study, the authors investigate the general properties of artificial neural network filters for bone-suppressed digital radiography. The filter properties are characterized in terms of various parameters such as the size of input vector, the number of hidden units, the learning rate, and so on. The preliminary result shows that the bone-suppressed image obtained from the filter, which is designed with 5,000 teaching images from a single radiograph, results in about 95% similarity with a commercial bone-enhanced image.","PeriodicalId":228011,"journal":{"name":"SPIE Medical Imaging","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116114085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Z. Yu, S. Leng, S. Kappler, K. Hahn, Zhoubo Li, A. Halaweish, A. Henning, E. Ritman, C. McCollough
Photon-counting CT (PCCT) is an emerging technique that may bring new possibilities to clinical practice. Compared to conventional CT, PCCT is able to exclude electronic noise that may severely impair image quality at low photon counts. This work focused on assessing the low-dose performance of a whole-body research PCCT scanner consisting of two subsystems, one equipped with an energy-integrating detector, and the other with a photon-counting detector. Evaluation of the low-dose performance of the research PCCT scanner was achieved by comparing the noise performance of the two subsystems, with an emphasis on examining the impact of electronic noise on image quality in low-dose situations.
{"title":"Low-dose performance of a whole-body research photon-counting CT scanner","authors":"Z. Yu, S. Leng, S. Kappler, K. Hahn, Zhoubo Li, A. Halaweish, A. Henning, E. Ritman, C. McCollough","doi":"10.1117/12.2217240","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2217240","url":null,"abstract":"Photon-counting CT (PCCT) is an emerging technique that may bring new possibilities to clinical practice. Compared to conventional CT, PCCT is able to exclude electronic noise that may severely impair image quality at low photon counts. This work focused on assessing the low-dose performance of a whole-body research PCCT scanner consisting of two subsystems, one equipped with an energy-integrating detector, and the other with a photon-counting detector. Evaluation of the low-dose performance of the research PCCT scanner was achieved by comparing the noise performance of the two subsystems, with an emphasis on examining the impact of electronic noise on image quality in low-dose situations.","PeriodicalId":228011,"journal":{"name":"SPIE Medical Imaging","volume":"50 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132538627","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
C-arm tomosynthesis is a three dimensional imaging technique. Both x-ray source and the detector are mounted on a C-arm wheeled structure to provide wide variety of movement around the object. In this paper, C-arm tomosynthesis was introduced to provide three dimensional information over a limited view angle (less than 180o) to reduce radiation exposure and examination time. Reconstruction algorithms based on ray tracing method such as ray tracing back projection (BP), simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique (SART) and maximum likelihood expectation maximization (MLEM) were developed for C-arm tomosynthesis. C-arm tomosynthesis projection images of simulated spherical object were simulated with a virtual geometric configuration with a total view angle of 40 degrees. This study demonstrated the sharpness of in-plane reconstructed structure and effectiveness of removing out-of-plane blur for each reconstruction algorithms. Results showed the ability of ray tracing based reconstruction algorithms to provide three dimensional information with limited angle C-arm tomosynthesis.
{"title":"Ray tracing reconstruction investigation for C-arm tomosynthesis","authors":"Nuhad A. Malalla, Ying Chen","doi":"10.1117/12.2217199","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2217199","url":null,"abstract":"C-arm tomosynthesis is a three dimensional imaging technique. Both x-ray source and the detector are mounted on a C-arm wheeled structure to provide wide variety of movement around the object. In this paper, C-arm tomosynthesis was introduced to provide three dimensional information over a limited view angle (less than 180o) to reduce radiation exposure and examination time. Reconstruction algorithms based on ray tracing method such as ray tracing back projection (BP), simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique (SART) and maximum likelihood expectation maximization (MLEM) were developed for C-arm tomosynthesis. C-arm tomosynthesis projection images of simulated spherical object were simulated with a virtual geometric configuration with a total view angle of 40 degrees. This study demonstrated the sharpness of in-plane reconstructed structure and effectiveness of removing out-of-plane blur for each reconstruction algorithms. Results showed the ability of ray tracing based reconstruction algorithms to provide three dimensional information with limited angle C-arm tomosynthesis.","PeriodicalId":228011,"journal":{"name":"SPIE Medical Imaging","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133006772","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chi Ma, Baiyu Chen, C. W. Koo, E. Takahashi, J. Fletcher, C. McCollough, D. Levin, R. Kuzo, Lyndsay D. Viers, Stephanie A. Vincent Sheldon, S. Leng, Lifeng Yu
Task-based assessment of computed tomography (CT) image quality requires a large number of cases with ground truth. Inserting lesions into existing cases to simulate positive cases is a promising alternative approach. The aim of this study was to evaluate a recently-developed raw-data based lesion insertion technique in thoracic CT. Lung lesions were segmented from patient CT images, forward projected, and reinserted into the same patient CT projection data. In total, 32 nodules of various attenuations were segmented from 21 CT cases. Two experienced radiologists and 2 residents blinded to the process independently evaluated these inserted nodules in two sub-studies. First, the 32 inserted and the 32 original nodules were presented in a randomized order and each received a rating score from 1 to 10 (1=absolutely artificial to 10=absolutely realistic). Second, the inserted and the corresponding original lesions were presented side-by-side to each reader, who identified the inserted lesion and provided a confidence score (1=no confidence to 5=completely certain). For the randomized evaluation, discrimination of real versus artificial nodules was poor with areas under the receiver operative characteristic curves being 0.69 (95% CI: 0.58-0.78), 0.57 (95% CI: 0.46-0.68), and 0.62 (95% CI: 0.54-0.69) for the 2 radiologists, 2 residents, and all 4 readers, respectively. For the side-by-side evaluation, although all 4 readers correctly identified inserted lesions in 103/128 pairs, the confidence score was moderate (2.6). Our projection-domain based lung nodule insertion technique provides a robust method to artificially generate clinical cases that prove to be difficult to differentiate from real cases.
{"title":"Evaluation of a projection-domain lung nodule insertion technique in thoracic CT","authors":"Chi Ma, Baiyu Chen, C. W. Koo, E. Takahashi, J. Fletcher, C. McCollough, D. Levin, R. Kuzo, Lyndsay D. Viers, Stephanie A. Vincent Sheldon, S. Leng, Lifeng Yu","doi":"10.1117/12.2217009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2217009","url":null,"abstract":"Task-based assessment of computed tomography (CT) image quality requires a large number of cases with ground truth. Inserting lesions into existing cases to simulate positive cases is a promising alternative approach. The aim of this study was to evaluate a recently-developed raw-data based lesion insertion technique in thoracic CT. Lung lesions were segmented from patient CT images, forward projected, and reinserted into the same patient CT projection data. In total, 32 nodules of various attenuations were segmented from 21 CT cases. Two experienced radiologists and 2 residents blinded to the process independently evaluated these inserted nodules in two sub-studies. First, the 32 inserted and the 32 original nodules were presented in a randomized order and each received a rating score from 1 to 10 (1=absolutely artificial to 10=absolutely realistic). Second, the inserted and the corresponding original lesions were presented side-by-side to each reader, who identified the inserted lesion and provided a confidence score (1=no confidence to 5=completely certain). For the randomized evaluation, discrimination of real versus artificial nodules was poor with areas under the receiver operative characteristic curves being 0.69 (95% CI: 0.58-0.78), 0.57 (95% CI: 0.46-0.68), and 0.62 (95% CI: 0.54-0.69) for the 2 radiologists, 2 residents, and all 4 readers, respectively. For the side-by-side evaluation, although all 4 readers correctly identified inserted lesions in 103/128 pairs, the confidence score was moderate (2.6). Our projection-domain based lung nodule insertion technique provides a robust method to artificially generate clinical cases that prove to be difficult to differentiate from real cases.","PeriodicalId":228011,"journal":{"name":"SPIE Medical Imaging","volume":"36 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117271260","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A realistic model of the anatomical texture from the pulmonary interstitium was developed with the goal of extending the capability of anthropomorphic computational phantoms (e.g., XCAT, Duke University), allowing for more accurate image quality assessment. Contrast-enhanced, high dose, thorax images for a healthy patient from a clinical CT system (Discovery CT750HD, GE healthcare) with thin (0.625 mm) slices and filtered back- projection (FBP) were used to inform the model. The interstitium which gives rise to the texture was defined using 24 volumes of interest (VOIs). These VOIs were selected manually to avoid vasculature, bronchi, and bronchioles. A small scale Hessian-based line filter was applied to minimize the amount of partial-volumed supernumerary vessels and bronchioles within the VOIs. The texture in the VOIs was characterized using 8 Haralick and 13 gray-level run length features. A clustered lumpy background (CLB) model with added noise and blurring to match CT system was optimized to resemble the texture in the VOIs using a genetic algorithm with the Mahalanobis distance as a similarity metric between the texture features. The most similar CLB model was then used to generate the interstitial texture to fill the lung. The optimization improved the similarity by 45%. This will substantially enhance the capabilities of anthropomorphic computational phantoms, allowing for more realistic CT simulations.
开发了肺间质解剖纹理的逼真模型，目的是扩展仿人计算模型的能力(例如，XCAT，杜克大学)，允许更准确的图像质量评估。使用临床CT系统(Discovery CT750HD, GE healthcare)的健康患者的对比度增强，高剂量的胸部图像，薄(0.625 mm)切片和过滤后投影(FBP)来告知模型。产生纹理的间质使用24个感兴趣体积(voi)来定义。这些voi是手工选择的，以避免血管、支气管和细支气管。应用小规模的hessian线滤波器来最小化voi内部分体积的多余血管和细支气管的数量。使用8个Haralick特征和13个灰度运行长度特征来表征voi中的纹理。采用Mahalanobis距离作为纹理特征之间的相似度度量，利用遗传算法对加入噪声和模糊的聚类块背景(CLB)模型进行优化，使其与CT系统中的纹理相似。然后使用最相似的CLB模型生成间质纹理以填充肺。优化后的相似性提高了45%。这将大大提高拟人化计算幻影的能力，允许更真实的CT模拟。
{"title":"Synthesized interstitial lung texture for use in anthropomorphic computational phantoms","authors":"M. Becchetti, J. Solomon, W. Segars, E. Samei","doi":"10.1117/12.2217135","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2217135","url":null,"abstract":"A realistic model of the anatomical texture from the pulmonary interstitium was developed with the goal of extending the capability of anthropomorphic computational phantoms (e.g., XCAT, Duke University), allowing for more accurate image quality assessment. Contrast-enhanced, high dose, thorax images for a healthy patient from a clinical CT system (Discovery CT750HD, GE healthcare) with thin (0.625 mm) slices and filtered back- projection (FBP) were used to inform the model. The interstitium which gives rise to the texture was defined using 24 volumes of interest (VOIs). These VOIs were selected manually to avoid vasculature, bronchi, and bronchioles. A small scale Hessian-based line filter was applied to minimize the amount of partial-volumed supernumerary vessels and bronchioles within the VOIs. The texture in the VOIs was characterized using 8 Haralick and 13 gray-level run length features. A clustered lumpy background (CLB) model with added noise and blurring to match CT system was optimized to resemble the texture in the VOIs using a genetic algorithm with the Mahalanobis distance as a similarity metric between the texture features. The most similar CLB model was then used to generate the interstitial texture to fill the lung. The optimization improved the similarity by 45%. This will substantially enhance the capabilities of anthropomorphic computational phantoms, allowing for more realistic CT simulations.","PeriodicalId":228011,"journal":{"name":"SPIE Medical Imaging","volume":"47 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123230110","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A linear ultrasound array system usually has a larger pitch and is less costly than a phased array system, but loses the ability to fully steer the ultrasound beam. In this paper, we propose a system whose hardware is similar to a large-pitch linear array system, but whose ability to steer the beam is similar to a phased array system. The motivation is to reduce the total number of measurement channels M (the product of the number of transmissions, nT, and the number of the receive channels in each transmission, nR), while maintaining reasonable image quality. We combined adjacent elements (with proper delays introduced) into groups that would be used in both the transmit and receive processes of synthetic transmit aperture imaging. After the M channels of RF data were acquired, a pseudo-inversion was applied to estimate the equivalent signal in traditional STA to reconstruct a STA image. Even with the similar M, different choices of nT and nR will produce different image quality. The images produced with M=N2/15 in the selected regions of interest (ROI) were demonstrated to be comparable with a full phased array, where N is the number of the array elements. The disadvantage of the proposed system is that its field of view in one delay-configuration is smaller than a standard full phased array. However, by adjusting the delay for each element within each group, the beam can be steered to cover the same field of view as the standard fully-filled phased array. The LPSSTA system might be useful for 3D ultrasound imaging.
{"title":"Large-pitch steerable synthetic transmit aperture imaging (LPSSTA)","authors":"Y. Li, Michael C. Kolios, Yuan Xu","doi":"10.1117/12.2216908","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2216908","url":null,"abstract":"A linear ultrasound array system usually has a larger pitch and is less costly than a phased array system, but loses the ability to fully steer the ultrasound beam. In this paper, we propose a system whose hardware is similar to a large-pitch linear array system, but whose ability to steer the beam is similar to a phased array system. The motivation is to reduce the total number of measurement channels M (the product of the number of transmissions, nT, and the number of the receive channels in each transmission, nR), while maintaining reasonable image quality. We combined adjacent elements (with proper delays introduced) into groups that would be used in both the transmit and receive processes of synthetic transmit aperture imaging. After the M channels of RF data were acquired, a pseudo-inversion was applied to estimate the equivalent signal in traditional STA to reconstruct a STA image. Even with the similar M, different choices of nT and nR will produce different image quality. The images produced with M=N2/15 in the selected regions of interest (ROI) were demonstrated to be comparable with a full phased array, where N is the number of the array elements. The disadvantage of the proposed system is that its field of view in one delay-configuration is smaller than a standard full phased array. However, by adjusting the delay for each element within each group, the beam can be steered to cover the same field of view as the standard fully-filled phased array. The LPSSTA system might be useful for 3D ultrasound imaging.","PeriodicalId":228011,"journal":{"name":"SPIE Medical Imaging","volume":"120 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116891516","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Plane wave imaging is desirable for its ability to achieve high frame rates, allowing the capture of fast dynamic events, and continuous Doppler data. In most implementations of plane-wave imaging, multiple low resolution image (LRI) frames from different plane wave tilt angles are compounded to form a single high resolution image (HRI) frame, thereby reducing the frame rate. Compounding is a low-pass mean filter that causes attenuation and aliasing to signals with high Doppler shifts. On the other hand, the lateral beam profile and hence the quality of the HRI frames is improved by increasing the number of compounded frames. Therefore, a tradeoff exists between the Doppler limits and beam profile. In this paper, we present a method that eliminates this tradeoff and produces high resolution images without the use of compounding. The method suppresses the off-focus (clutter) signal by spreading its spectrum, while keeping the spectrum of the in-focus signal intact. The spreading is achieved by using a random sequence of tilt angles, as opposed to a linear sweep. Experiments performed using a carotid vessel phantom with constant flow demonstrate that the spread-spectrum method more accurately measures the parabolic flow profile of the vessel and in particular outperforms conventional plane-wave Doppler at higher flow velocities. The spread-spectrum method is expected to be valuable for Doppler applications that require measurement of high velocities at high frame rates.
{"title":"A beamforming method for plane wave Doppler imaging of high flow velocities","authors":"O. Mansour, T. Poepping, J. Lacefield","doi":"10.1117/12.2217226","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2217226","url":null,"abstract":"Plane wave imaging is desirable for its ability to achieve high frame rates, allowing the capture of fast dynamic events, and continuous Doppler data. In most implementations of plane-wave imaging, multiple low resolution image (LRI) frames from different plane wave tilt angles are compounded to form a single high resolution image (HRI) frame, thereby reducing the frame rate. Compounding is a low-pass mean filter that causes attenuation and aliasing to signals with high Doppler shifts. On the other hand, the lateral beam profile and hence the quality of the HRI frames is improved by increasing the number of compounded frames. Therefore, a tradeoff exists between the Doppler limits and beam profile. In this paper, we present a method that eliminates this tradeoff and produces high resolution images without the use of compounding. The method suppresses the off-focus (clutter) signal by spreading its spectrum, while keeping the spectrum of the in-focus signal intact. The spreading is achieved by using a random sequence of tilt angles, as opposed to a linear sweep. Experiments performed using a carotid vessel phantom with constant flow demonstrate that the spread-spectrum method more accurately measures the parabolic flow profile of the vessel and in particular outperforms conventional plane-wave Doppler at higher flow velocities. The spread-spectrum method is expected to be valuable for Doppler applications that require measurement of high velocities at high frame rates.","PeriodicalId":228011,"journal":{"name":"SPIE Medical Imaging","volume":"41 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121370882","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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