Real-Time GPU-Based Ultrasound Simulation Using Deformable Mesh Models
Real-Time GPU-Based Ultrasound Simulation Using Deformable Mesh Models
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DOI：
10.1109/tmi.2012.2234474
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发表时间：
2013-03-01
影响因子：
10.6
通讯作者：
Hesser, Juergen
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Buerger, Benny;Bettinghausen, Sascha;Hesser, Juergen
提出了一种基于图形处理单元（GPU）的实时超声模拟器，适用于医学教育。模拟器的主要焦点是实时合成逼真的超声图像，包括人工制品，这对于解释这些数据至关重要。仿真基于卷积增强的光线跟踪方法，并使用可变形的网格模型。使用PhysX引擎计算网格模型的变形。我们的方法通过跟踪超声脉冲的路径，提高了实时超声模拟器的技术水平，从而能够更好地模拟超声特定工件。对我们提出的方法进行了评估，并与最近基于生成切片的策略以及真实超声图像进行了比较。在此，用真实的换能器扫描含有不同介质填充的注射器的明胶超声模体。然后将获得的图像与使用基于切片的技术和我们提出的方法模拟的图像进行比较。我们的方法的特别好处是精确模拟超声波特定的伪影，如范围失真，折射和声阴影。在模拟时间方面对几种测试场景进行了评估，以显示我们的方法的性能和瓶颈。虽然在计算上比切片技术更密集，但我们的模拟器能够实时生成高质量的图像，通过网格模型跟踪超过5000条光线，其中超过200000个三角形，其中每帧多达200000个可能变形。
This paper presents a real-time capable graphics processing unit (GPU)-based ultrasound simulator suitable for medical education. The main focus of the simulator is to synthesize realistic looking ultrasound images in real-time including artifacts, which are essential for the interpretation of this data. The simulation is based on a convolution-enhanced ray-tracing approach and uses a deformable mesh model. Deformations of the mesh model are calculated using the PhysX engine. Our method advances the state of the art for real-time capable ultrasound simulators by following the path of the ultrasound pulse, which enables better simulation of ultrasound-specific artifacts. An evaluation of our proposed method in comparison with recent generative slicing-based strategies as well as real ultrasound images is performed. Hereby, a gelatin ultrasound phantom containing syringes filled with different media is scanned with a real transducer. The obtained images are then compared to images which are simulated using a slicing-based technique and our proposed method. The particular benefit of our method is the accurate simulation of ultrasound-specific artifacts, like range distortion, refraction and acoustic shadowing. Several test scenarios are evaluated regarding simulation time, to show the performance and the bottleneck of our method. While being computationally more intensive than slicing techniques, our simulator is able to produce high-quality images in real-time, tracing over 5000 rays through mesh models with more than 2 000 000 triangles of which up to 200 000 may be deformed each frame.