Spatial-coherence-based beamforming for image quality enhancement in high frame-rate ultrasound imaging

Abstract

Several high frame-rate ultrasound imaging techniques have been recently proposed which allow to increase image acquisition rates by transmitting multiple focused beams simultaneously or defocused waves, and reconstructing multiple scan lines in parallel. These methods, which include for example multi-line transmission, plane/diverging wave imaging, and parallel beamforming, have proved to be successful in increasing the frame-rate, but on the other hand they have also showed some limitations in terms of the achievable image quality, partly degrading image contrast and resolution. Different solutions have been proposed to address this problem so far, such as the use of advanced receive beamforming algorithms able to improve the beam shape and the quality of the obtained image. Among these, beamformers based on backscattered signals spatial coherence, as e.g. Filtered Delay Multiply and Sum beamforming, Coherence-Factor-based methods, and Short Lag Spatial Coherence Imaging, have gained increasing attention for their ability to enhance image contrast and suppress clutter. In this presentation, an overview of some recent results obtained by jointly exploiting high frame-rate ultrasound imaging and coherence-based beamforming methods will be presented, showing through experimental tests the performance improvement achievable with these techniques.