Abstract
Vascular ultrasound imaging is inherently hampered by low lateral resolution and contrast. Steering of the ultrasound beams can be used to overcome these limitations in superficial artery imaging because the aperture-to-depth ratio is relatively high. However, in arteries located at larger depths, the steered beams do not overlap for larger steering angles. In this study, the ultrasound probe is physically translated over the abdomen to create large angles between acquisitions, while maintaining overlap on the abdominal aorta. In one phantom setup and 11 volunteers, 2-D cross-sectional multi-perspective ultrasound images of the abdominal aorta were acquired using seven angles between –45° and +45°. Automatic registration of the recorded images was performed by automatic feature detection of the aorta and spine. This automatic detection was successful in 62 out of 77 image sets. Compounded multi-perspective images showed an increase of contrast-to-noise ratios from 0.6 ± 0.1 to 1.2 ± 0.2 over the entire heart cycle in volunteers.
Highlights
Ultrasound is extensively used in the diagnosis of vascular diseases because of its non-invasive nature, real-time capabilities, high resolution and low cost
More and more research is performed on volumetric assessment of aneurysm size, growth and rupture risk (Rouet et al 2010; Long et al 2013), as well as risk assessment based on mechanical properties of the arterial wall (Fillinger et al 2003; Gasser et al 2010; Wittek et al 2013; van Disseldorp et al 2016; van Disseldorp et al 2018; Petterson et al 2019)
This study investigates image compounding of the abdominal aorta, where steering of the ultrasound imaging plane is achieved by physically moving the transducer stepwise
Summary
Ultrasound is extensively used in the diagnosis of vascular diseases because of its non-invasive nature, real-time capabilities, high resolution and low cost. The arterial wall geometry is very important. In abdominal aortic aneurysms, a local increase of arterial diameter of more than 50% is an important indicator for rupture risk (Schermerhorn and Cronenwett 2001). More and more research is performed on volumetric assessment of aneurysm size, growth and rupture risk (Rouet et al 2010; Long et al 2013), as well as risk assessment based on mechanical properties of the arterial wall (Fillinger et al 2003; Gasser et al 2010; Wittek et al 2013; van Disseldorp et al 2016; van Disseldorp et al 2018; Petterson et al 2019).
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