TY - CHAP
T1 - Effects of Aberration on Super-Resolution Ultrasound Imaging using Microbubbles
AU - Peralta, Laura
AU - Hajnal, Joseph V.
AU - Tang, Meng Xing
AU - Christensen-Jeffries, Kirsten
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 IEEE.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Visualizing vasculature beyond the diffraction limit can be achieved using ultrasound super-resolution imaging. Typically, ultrasound scanners model the target medium as homogeneous, assuming a constant speed-of-sound for time-of-flight based calculations. However, variations in ultrasound propagation velocity caused by varying tissue layers affect beamforming operations. This aberration is likely to have considerable effect on super-resolution ultrasound imaging at depth. Here we investigate the effect of aberration on super-resolution ultrasound localization error in soft tissues using simulations. Wave propagation using both linear, B-Mode, and nonlinear, pulse inversion, (PI) imaging acquisition through different tissue media was modelled from a linear array using k-Wave, and the resulting pulse-echo data from a microbubble located at 50 mm depth was beamformed. Media included a control homogeneous propagation medium, and aberrating media typical of liver imaging. Results indicated super-resolution ultrasound localisation errors increased with increasing aberration and were affected by both the imaging method and microbubble sizes. Average localisation errors for PI reached 749m axially and 986m laterally and 844m axially and 734m laterally for B-mode. The scale of these errors relative to micro-vascular structures of interest suggests that aberration will have considerable impact on super-resolution ultrasound performance and requires attention to ensure its success.
AB - Visualizing vasculature beyond the diffraction limit can be achieved using ultrasound super-resolution imaging. Typically, ultrasound scanners model the target medium as homogeneous, assuming a constant speed-of-sound for time-of-flight based calculations. However, variations in ultrasound propagation velocity caused by varying tissue layers affect beamforming operations. This aberration is likely to have considerable effect on super-resolution ultrasound imaging at depth. Here we investigate the effect of aberration on super-resolution ultrasound localization error in soft tissues using simulations. Wave propagation using both linear, B-Mode, and nonlinear, pulse inversion, (PI) imaging acquisition through different tissue media was modelled from a linear array using k-Wave, and the resulting pulse-echo data from a microbubble located at 50 mm depth was beamformed. Media included a control homogeneous propagation medium, and aberrating media typical of liver imaging. Results indicated super-resolution ultrasound localisation errors increased with increasing aberration and were affected by both the imaging method and microbubble sizes. Average localisation errors for PI reached 749m axially and 986m laterally and 844m axially and 734m laterally for B-mode. The scale of these errors relative to micro-vascular structures of interest suggests that aberration will have considerable impact on super-resolution ultrasound performance and requires attention to ensure its success.
KW - Aberration
KW - Biomedical imaging
KW - Microbubbles
KW - Microvasculature
KW - Resolution
KW - Ultrasonic imaging
KW - Ultrasound
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85122891893&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/IUS52206.2021.9593820
DO - 10.1109/IUS52206.2021.9593820
M3 - Conference paper
AN - SCOPUS:85122891893
T3 - IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, IUS
BT - IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium
T2 - 2021 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, IUS 2021
Y2 - 11 September 2011 through 16 September 2011
ER -