Synergistic enhancements of ultrasound image contrast with a combination of phase aberration correction and dual apodization with cross-correlation.
Synergistic enhancements of ultrasound image contrast with a combination of phase aberration correction and dual apodization with cross-correlation.
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DOI：
10.1109/tuffc.2012.2430
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发表时间：
2012-09
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Yen J
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Shin J;Yen J
带互相关的双重变迹(DAX)是一种新的自适应波束形成技术，它利用两个不同的变迹函数来抑制旁瓣和杂波。以前的研究表明，随着像差强度的增加，DAX在最小化相位像差影响方面的性能会降低。为了更好地提高图像对比度，本文提出将DAX与基于最近邻互相关(NNCC)的相位像差校正算法相结合。我们的模拟和实验结果表明，该方法可以协同增强图像的对比度，并且比单独使用DAX或在存在弱像差和强像差的情况下仅使用相位像差校正的图像质量获得更大的改善。与标准延迟和(DAS)波束形成方法相比，采用该方法对具有弱像差和强像差的仿真数据进行波束形成时，对比噪声比(CNR)分别从3.6提高到9.5和从1.5提高到8.5。使用4 mm和10 mm厚的猪肉组织和模拟组织的体模获得了实验结果。4 mm猪肉畸变器的CNR值从3.7增加到9.7，10 mm猪肉畸变器的CNR值从1.3增加到8.2。
Dual Apodization with Cross-correlation (DAX) is a novel adaptive beamforming technique, which utilizes two distinct apodization functions in suppressing sidelobes and clutter. Previous studies have shown that the performance of DAX in minimizing the effects of phase aberration diminishes with increasing aberrator strength. To achieve greater improvement in image contrast, we propose, in this paper, to combine DAX with a phase aberration correction algorithm based on nearest neighbor cross-correlation (NNCC). Our simulation and experimental results presented in this work showed that the proposed method allows for synergistic enhancements of image contrast and achieves greater improvement in image quality than using DAX alone or phase aberration correction alone in the presence of weak and strong aberrators. Compared to standard delay-and-sum (DAS) beamforming, using the proposed method on simulated data with weak and strong aberrations increased the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) values from 3.6 to 9.5 and from 1.5 to 8.5, respectively. Experimental results were obtained using pork tissues of 4 mm and 10 mm thickness and a tissue-mimicking phantom. The CNR values increased from 3.7 to 9.7 for the 4 mm pork aberrator and from 1.3 to 8.2 for the 10 mm pork aberrator.