Tracing echo segment selecting method for strain reconstruction

Abstract

There are numbers of error sources in elastography construction. In its basic procedure of tissue segment displacement estimation, error will be generated due to the echo waveform distortion. In this paper the necessity of a tracing segment selection is proposed and demonstrated with simulation data. To separate the tracing segments with less distortion from those segments with more distortion, the names central and edge segment are introduced. Following the idea of reducing the strain reconstruction error by discarding the edge segments and only using the central segment in the estimation of displacement, four tracing segment selection methods are established, namely the phase irregularity rejection method, the echo envelop peak centering method, the echo envelop threshold method, and the echo correlation envelop selection method. Simulation results indicate that these methods are effective in reducing the strain reconstruction error. Among the first three methods, the echo envelop peak centering method is more efficient in reducing the error but with a trade-off of losing the resolution.