Contrast and Volume Rate Enhancement of 3-D Ultrasound Imaging Using Aperiodic Plane Wave Angles: A Simulation Study.

Sua Bae,Tai-Kyong Song,Jiwon Park

doi:10.1109/tuffc.2019.2931495

Sua Bae, Tai-Kyong Song + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1109/tuffc.2019.2931495

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Abstract

Three-dimensional plane wave imaging (PWI) with a 2-D array has been studied for ultrafast volumetric imaging in medical ultrasound. Compared to 2-D PWI, 3-D PWI requires the transmission of an increased number of plane waves (PWs) to scan a volume of interest and achieve transmit dynamic focusing in both the lateral and elevational directions. To reduce the number of PW angles for a given 2-D angular range by mitigating the grating lobe level, we propose two aperiodic patterns of PW angles: concentric rings with a uniform radial interval and the well-known sunflower pattern. Both patterns are validated to provide uniform angle distributions without regular periodicity, and thereby reduce the grating lobe level compared to a periodic angle distribution with the same number of PW angles. Simulation studies show that the aperiodic patterns enhance the contrast of B-mode images by approximately 3-6 dB over all depths. This enhancement implies that the aperiodic angle sets can increase the volume rate by approximately 2-6 times compared to the periodic angle set at the same contrast and spatial resolution.

Highlights

U LTRASOUND (US) volumetric (3-D) imaging has been shown to offer advantages in relation to traditional 2-D US imaging in various clinical applications [1], [2]
The aim of this study is to reduce the number of plane waves (PWs) angles for a given 2-D angular range while mitigating the grating lobe level, which will be accomplished by using PW angles that are distributed on aperiodic grids but have a rather uniform density
In the case of xf2, the focal depth is moved further on the z-axis, and the active seeds are confined in the center area in the αβ plane, as shown in Fig. 8(d)–(f), because the PWs with large steering angles do not propagate over xf2

Summary

Introduction

U LTRASOUND (US) volumetric (3-D) imaging has been shown to offer advantages in relation to traditional 2-D US imaging in various clinical applications [1], [2]. Volumetric scanning is essential for various applications in functional and molecular US imaging. The detection of 3-D heart wall motion and the estimation of the blood ejection volume can be performed much more accurately via volumetric imaging than via 2-D scanning [5]–[7]. Observations of Manuscript received June 10, 2019; accepted July 23, 2019. Date of publication July 31, 2019; date of current version October 24, 2019.

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