Abstract
Handheld ultrasound devices have been widely used for diagnostic applications. The use of the acoustic-field beamforming (AFB) method has been proposed for handheld ultrasound to reduce electricity consumption and avoid battery and unwanted heat issues. However, the image quality, such as the contrast ratio and contrast-to-noise-ratio, are poorer with this technique than with the conventional delay-and-sum method. To address the problems associated with the worse image quality in AFB imaging, in this paper we propose the use of an AFB-based generalized coherence factor (GCF) technique, in which the GCF weighting developed for adaptive beamforming is extended to AFB. Simulation data, experimental results, and in vivo testing verified the efficacy of our proposed AFB-based GCF technique.
Highlights
Ultrasound technology is a non-invasive, non-radiation, and valuable medical imaging method for rapid clinical diagnosis [1,2]
To address the problems associated with the worse image quality in acoustic-field beamforming (AFB) imaging, in this paper we propose the use of an AFB-based generalized coherence factor (GCF) technique, in which the GCF weighting developed for array beamforming is extended to AFB
The use of the AFB technique has been proposed for handheld ultrasound to reduce electricity consumption and avoid battery and unwanted heat issues
Summary
Ultrasound technology is a non-invasive, non-radiation, and valuable medical imaging method for rapid clinical diagnosis [1,2]. Real-time ultrasound allows users to view ultrasonic images without an appreciable delay between signal generation and the image display [5]. In recent years, handheld ultrasound devices have been widely used for diagnostic applications in emergency rooms, for health monitoring, and in ambulances [8,9,10,11,12,13]. Handheld ultrasound devices are successfully used to diagnose patients in low-income and middle-income countries [14]. Handheld ultrasound is a very important topic in ultrasound imaging and in medical imaging more generally. It has the immense potential to change medical imaging practices
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