IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control最新文献

{"title":"Study of the Impact of Probe Steering Capability on the Performance of Off-Axis Measurements of Backscattered Signals","authors":"Lenin Chinchilla;Régine Guillermin;Emilie Franceschini;Alessandro Stuart Savoia","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3519194","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3519194","url":null,"abstract":"In the field of quantitative ultrasound (QUS), several studies have been conducted to parameterize tissue anisotropy by measuring the angular dependence of the backscatter coefficient (BSC). Early foundational studies utilized a single-element transducer, and more recent ones used ultrasound linear array probes. However, probe features such as directivity and crosstalk can strongly affect both, the transmission of an ultrasound beam and the measurements of the backscattered signals, independent of the imaging strategy used, either the focused beam steering or the plane wave imaging (PWI). In this work, we present a comparative analysis between a capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) probe and a commercial piezoelectric probe, in which the BSC is measured using the focused beam steering imaging strategy on isotropic and anisotropic tissue-mimicking phantoms along different insonification angles. The results show how the limited steering capabilities of linear probes can affect the measurement of BSC, and, in general, the anisotropic QUS parameters, bringing into discussion their consideration in the development of experimental strategies for the assessment of tissue anisotropy.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"72 2","pages":"251-262"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10807367","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143388587","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}

{"title":"Validation of Volumetric Multifrequency Shear Wave Vibro-Elastography With Matrix Array Transducer for the In Vivo Liver","authors":"Qi Zeng;Shahed K. Mohammed;Tajwar Abrar Aleef;Mohammad Honarvar;Caitlin Schneider;Emily H. T. Pang;James Jago;Alnoor Ramji;Eric M. Yoshida;Robert Rohling;Septimiu E. Salcudean","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3519192","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3519192","url":null,"abstract":"Three-dimensional shear wave absolute vibro-elastography (S-WAVE) is a steady-state, volumetric elastography imaging technique similar to magnetic resonance elastography (MRE), with the additional advantage of multifrequency imaging and a significantly shorter examination time. We present a novel ultrasound matrix array implementation of S-WAVE for high-volume refresh rate acquisition. This new imaging setup is equipped with real-time shear wave monitoring for an improved data collection workflow and image quality. The image processing and elasticity reconstruction pipeline is tailored for high body mass index (BMI) subjects. We characterized this system with tissue phantoms and a human study cohort composed of 7 healthy volunteers and 25 patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. The validation results show that S-WAVE can maintain a high agreement with the liver tissue stiffness measurements obtained with both the 2-D and 3-D MRE techniques, with an average cross correlation >93% and an average <inline-formula> <tex-math>${R} ^{{2}} =0.87$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, which outperforms the conventional transient elasticity technique. Our findings show that the matrix array-based 3-D S-WAVE is a suitable volumetric elastography imaging solution for delivering a similar assessment of liver fibrosis as MRE in a more accessible, flexible, and cost-effective way.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"72 2","pages":"178-190"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143388640","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}

{"title":"4-D Vector Doppler Imaging Using Row-Column Addressed Array","authors":"Qiandong Sun;Yapeng Fu;Shaoyuan Yan;Kailiang Xu","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3519179","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3519179","url":null,"abstract":"Large aperture 4-D blood flow Doppler imaging with high temporal resolution remains an important challenge. Different from the conventional matrix-array strategy, we proposed a 4-D ultrasound vector Doppler (4D-UVD) imaging method using a <inline-formula> <tex-math>$128+128$ </tex-math></inline-formula> row-column addressed (RCA) array and a 256-channel ultrasound platform. This method integrates ultrafast 2-D plane wave transmission sequence and least-squares multiangle Doppler velocity estimator. The accuracy of the proposed method was evaluated in both simulations and phantom experiments of parabolic flow. The simulated result shows that the root-mean-squared error (RMSE) of estimated velocity is less than 15%. In the phantom experiments, the relative mean bias <inline-formula> <tex-math>$overline {B}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and the standard deviation (SD) <inline-formula> <tex-math>$overline {sigma }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of the velocity profiles are less than 7.9% and 6.9%, respectively, suggesting a high estimated precision. Furthermore, in vivo feasibility of the approach was demonstrated in the human carotid artery. The blood flow velocity of the carotid artery was continuously measured over seven cardiac cycles at a 1-kHz volume rate. The fluctuations of the estimated mean and peak velocities were highly consistent with the pulse waves measured using a gating pulse sensor, yielding synchronization coefficients of 0.85 and 0.87, respectively. It is thus concluded that the proposed method can achieve a large aperture 4-D vector flow imaging with high temporal resolution using an RCA probe.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"72 2","pages":"202-214"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143388548","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}

{"title":"A Unified Framework Combining Doppler-Based Motion Compensation, Harmonic Imaging, and Angular Coherence for High-Quality B-Mode in Ultrafast Echocardiography","authors":"Michael Mougharbel;Jonathan Porée;Stephen A. Lee;Paul Xing;Alice Wu;Jean-Claude Tardif;Jean Provost","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3505060","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3505060","url":null,"abstract":"Various methods have been proposed to enhance image quality in ultrafast ultrasound. Coherent compounding can improve image quality using multiple steered diverging transmits when motion occurring between transmits is corrected. Harmonic imaging has been adapted for ultrafast imaging to reduce clutter. Coherence-based approaches have also been shown to increase contrast in clinical settings by enhancing signals from coherent echoes. Herein, we introduce a simple, unified framework that combines motion correction, harmonic imaging, and angular coherence, showing for the first time that their benefits can be combined in real time. To do so, harmonic imaging was achieved through pulse inversion (PI), phase delay between successive transmits was assessed to perform motion compensation (MoCo), and ensemble autocorrelation between transmits was used to generate a weight applied to the coherently compounded frames. Validation was conducted through in vitro testing on a spinning disk model and in vivo on four volunteers. In vitro results confirmed the unified framework capability to achieve high contrast in large-motion contexts up to 17 cm/s. In vivo testing highlighted proficiency in generating images of high quality during low and high tissue velocity phases of the cardiac cycle. Specifically, during ventricular filling, the unified framework increased the generalized contrast-to-noise ratio (gCNR) from 0.47 to 0.87 when compared against coherent compounding.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"72 1","pages":"141-152"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143107102","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}

{"title":"A Novel 2x2D Radial Basis Function-Based Interpolation for Short Acquisition Time and Relaxed Frame Rate Ultrasound Localization Microscopy","authors":"Sajjad Afrakhteh;Giulia Tuccio;Libertario Demi","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3515218","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3515218","url":null,"abstract":"Ultrasound localization microscopy (ULM) has become a potent technique for microvascular imaging using ultrasound waves. However, one major challenge is the high frame rate and lengthy acquisition time needed to produce super-resolved (SR) images. To overcome this, our goal is to relax the frame rate and shorten this acquisition time while preserving SR image quality, thereby enhancing ULM’s clinical applicability. To this end, we propose two distinct strategies: first, we suggest acquiring the data at lower frame rate followed by applying the reconstruction technique to compensate the lost information due to low frame rate imaging. Second, to tackle the prolonged acquisition time, we propose compressing acquisition time by a compression ratio (CR), which can degrade SR image quality due to reduced temporal information. To mitigate this, we temporally upsample the in-phase-quadrature (IQ) data by a factor equal to the CR after compressed acquisition. In addition, we introduce a novel bidirectional (2x2D) interpolation (IP) using radial basis function (RBF)-based reconstruction to estimate unknown values in the 3D IQ data (x–z–t), thereby enhancing temporal resolution. The rationale behind using 2x2D IP is its ability to integrate spatiotemporal information from two orthogonal x–t and z–t planes, effectively addressing anisotropies and nonuniformities in microbubble motion. This 2x2D approach improves the reconstruction of microbubbles’ dynamics by interpolating along both the x- and z-directions. The method was tested on rat brain and rat kidney datasets recorded at 1 kHz, demonstrating relaxing the frame rate to 100 Hz (using the first strategy) and a reduction in acquisition time by a factor of 3 to 4 (using the second strategy) while maintaining SR image quality comparable to the original uncompressed data, including density and velocity maps.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"71 12: Breaking the Resolution Barrier in Ultrasound","pages":"1855-1867"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10793238","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142938380","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}

{"title":"A 2-D Circular Array Transducer for Endoscopic Ultrasound Imaging of Tube","authors":"Ze Xi;Chenkai Feng;Xiangang Wang;Xiaowei Luo","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3509474","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3509474","url":null,"abstract":"The concept of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) has been introduced to nondestructive testing (NDT) for the inspection of tubular structure. However, the fixed normal focusing beam of the present EUS transducers obstructs imaging flexibility and limits the robustness of the inspection, particularly for planar reflectors. To address this challenge, a 2-D circular array (2-D CA) designed for 3-D focusing is developed in this article. A prototype 2-D CA transducer is fabricated and validated, which is demonstrated as a central frequency of 10.10 MHz and an average pulse duration of no more than 344 ns. An independent-dual-focusing (IDF) beamforming scheme is further proposed, providing delay laws in two orthogonal directions. The acoustic field simulation results confirm that the 2-D CA is capable of achieving focusing in any direction, thereby enhancing the flexibility of EUS imaging. The imaging performance of the 2-D CA is evaluated through the immersion EUS inspection of a stainless-steel tube specimen. All the quasiplanar reflectors, including ring grooves with narrow-width, small-diameter flat bottom holes (FBHs), and longitudinal grooves, are successfully detected in the 2-D CA imaging results. These reflectors could hardly be recognized by the conventional CA with a fixed-normal beam, affirming the superior detection robustness of the 2-D CA. The detection signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and error of quantitative characterization of the 2-D CA are 26.12 dB higher and 40.37% lower than those of conventional CA, respectively. The proposed 2-D CA enables novel and advanced EUS imaging modalities, which have potential applications in both medical imaging and NDT domains.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"72 1","pages":"87-99"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143107157","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}

{"title":"Real-Time Full-Volume Row-Column Imaging","authors":"Sebastian Kazmarek Præsius;Lasse Thurmann Jørgensen;Jørgen Arendt Jensen","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3509683","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3509683","url":null,"abstract":"An implementation of volumetric beamforming for row-column addressed (RCA) arrays is proposed, with optimizations for graphics processing units (GPUs). It is hypothesized that entire volumes can imaged in real-time by a consumer-class GPU at an emission rate <inline-formula> <tex-math>$geq 12$ </tex-math></inline-formula> kHz. A separable beamforming algorithm was used to reduce the number of calculations with a negligible impact on the image quality. Here, a single image was beamformed for each emission and then extrapolated to reproduce the volume, which resulted in <inline-formula> <tex-math>$65times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> fewer calculations per volume. Reusing computations and samples among adjacent pixels and frames reduced the amount of overhead and load instructions, increasing performance. A GPU beamformer, written in compute unified device architecture (CUDA) C++, was modified to implement the dual-stage imaging with optimizations. In vivo rat kidney data were acquired using a 6-MHz Vermon 128 + 128 RCA probe and a Verasonics Vantage 256 scanner. The acquisition used 96 defocused emissions at a 12-kHz rate for a volume acquisition rate of 125 Hz. Processing time, including all preprocessing, was measured for an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, and the resulting beamforming rate was 1440 volumes/s, greatly exceeding the real-time rate. Based on the GPU’s floating-point throughput, this corresponds to 22% of the theoretically achievable rate. High efficiency was also shown for an RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 3090, both achieving real-time imaging. This shows that 3-D imaging can be performed in real-time with a setup similar to 2-D imaging: using a single graphics card, one scanner, and 128 transmit/receive channels.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"72 1","pages":"109-126"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143107100","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}

{"title":"Machine Learning-Enhanced Skull-Universal Acoustic Hologram for Efficient Transcranial Ultrasound Neuromodulation Across Varied Rodent Skulls","authors":"Moon Hwan Lee;Kyungsu Lee;Youngseung Yoo;HyungJoon Cho;Euiheon Chung;Jae Youn Hwang","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3506913","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3506913","url":null,"abstract":"Ultrasound neuromodulation (UNM) has gained significant interest in brain science due to its noninvasive nature, precision, and deep brain stimulation capabilities. However, the skull poses challenges along the acoustic path, leading to beam distortion and necessitating effective acoustic aberration correction. Acoustic holograms used with single-element ultrasound transducers offer a promising solution by enabling both aberration correction and multifocal stimulation. A major limitation, however, is that hologram lenses designed for specific skulls may not perform well on other skulls, requiring multiple custom lenses for scaled studies. To address this, we introduce the skull-universal acoustic hologram (SUAH), which enables efficient transcranial UNM across various skull types. Our hologram generation framework integrates a physics-based acoustic hologram, differentiable acoustic simulation in heterogeneous media, and a gradient accumulation technique. SUAH, trained on a range of rodent skull shapes, demonstrated remarkable generalizability and robustness, even outperforming the skull-specific acoustic hologram (SSAH). Through comprehensive analyses, we showed that SUAH performs exceptionally well—even when trained on smaller datasets—significantly outperforming training based on individual skulls. In conclusion, SUAH shows promise as a scalable, versatile, and accurate tool for UNM, representing a significant advancement over conventional single-skull hologram lenses. Its ability to adapt to different skull types without the need for multiple custom lenses has the potential to greatly facilitate research in UNM.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"72 1","pages":"127-140"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143107101","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}

{"title":"IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Publication Information","authors":"","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3499555","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3499555","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"71 11","pages":"C2-C2"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10770107","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142736595","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}

{"title":"Ultrasound Localization Microscopy for Cancer Imaging","authors":"Céline Porte;Stefanie Dencks;Matthias Kohlen;Zuzanna Magnuska;Thomas Lisson;Anne Rix;Elmar Stickeler;Georg Schmitz;Fabian Kiessling","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3508266","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3508266","url":null,"abstract":"Angiogenesis—the formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing ones—is one of the hallmarks of cancer, regardless of subtype. However, the development of a specific tumor type is a highly heterogeneous process that influences the morphology of the tumor vasculature, which has a direct impact on the malignancy and invasiveness of the lesions. Therefore, the analysis of tumor vascularity without the need for invasive procedures is of fundamental interest for the classification of tumor tissue and the monitoring of therapies. Ultrasound localization microscopy (ULM) is a promising new technique that breaks the resolution limits of conventional ultrasound (US) imaging and allows to detect vascular structures and blood flow down to the capillary level. In this article, we discuss this emerging technique in the context of cancer imaging, focusing on crucial implementation aspects as well as on initial basic research in preclinical and clinical settings.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"71 12: Breaking the Resolution Barrier in Ultrasound","pages":"1785-1800"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142938038","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}