Abstract
Knowledge of aneurysm geometry and local mechanical wall parameters using ultrasound (US) can contribute to a better prediction of rupture risk in abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs). However, aortic strain imaging using conventional US is limited by the lateral lumen-wall contrast and resolution. In this study, ultrafast multiperspective bistatic (MP BS) imaging is used to improve aortic US, in which two curved array transducers receive simultaneously on each transmit event. The advantage of such bistatic US imaging on both image quality and strain estimations was investigated by comparing it to single-perspective monostatic (SP MS) and MP monostatic (MP MS) imaging, i.e., alternately transmitting and receiving with either transducer. Experimental strain imaging was performed in US simulations and in an experimental study on porcine aortas. Different compounding strategies were tested to retrieve the most useful information from each received US signal. Finally, apart from the conventional sector grid in curved array US imaging, a polar grid with respect to the vessel's local coordinate system is introduced. This new reconstruction method demonstrated improved displacement estimations in aortic US. The US simulations showed increased strain estimation accuracy using MP BS imaging bistatic imaging compared to MP MS imaging, with a decrease in the average relative error between 41% and 84% in vessel wall regions between transducers. In the experimental results, the mean image contrast-to-noise ratio was improved by up to 8 dB in the vessel wall regions between transducers. This resulted in an increased mean elastographic signal-to-noise ratio by about 15 dB in radial strain and 6 dB in circumferential strain.
Highlights
A BDOMINAL aortic aneurysms (AAAs) are local dilations of the abdominal aortic wall with an aortic diameter of 3.0 cm or more [1], [2]
We previously introduced ultrafast multi-perspective (MP) strain imaging, in which the displacements from the two perspectives were compounded after displacement estimation on single probe, ultrafast, compounded ultrasound data [18]
It is shown that the strains in the MP bistatic simulation were more homogeneous compared to the SP and MP monostatic simulation, and resembled the ground truth (GT) strains most out of the three image configurations
Summary
A BDOMINAL aortic aneurysms (AAAs) are local dilations of the abdominal aortic wall with an aortic diameter of 3.0 cm or more [1], [2].
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
More From: IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.