CPS: Medium: Collaborative Research: Human-on-the-Loop Control for Smart Ultrasound Imaging

由于操作成本低和患者安全，与计算机断层扫描（CT）或磁共振成像（MRI）等类似技术相比，超声被广泛认为是医学成像的最佳形式之一。尽管如此，不同专家对同一患者进行成像所获得的图像质量可能存在很大差异，这可能会影响成功的诊断和患者治疗。这个问题在病人身上变得更加明显。因此，为了减少这种可变性，该项目将开发成像技术，这种成像技术不是被动的，而是基于实时超声束控制和适应，同时促进操作员专业知识的最佳利用，以获得最具信息量的图像。这种新的主动超声系统，其中具有不同培训水平的专家用户与智能超声设备交互，以改善医学成像和促进诊断，与目前仅手动控制的系统相比，将提供显着的性能提升。该项目还将对许多医疗状况（如癌症或肝纤维化）的准确、安全和具有成本效益的诊断产生重大的社会影响。例如，使用这种系统进行乳腺癌诊断将大大减少不必要的活组织检查的数量，目前仅在美国，每年的活组织检查费用就超过10亿美元。同时，这项技术还可以实现依赖于不同形式超声的各种其他成像应用，例如使用多普勒超声绘制心室图或识别结构中材料的机械性能以进行故障预测。具体来说，该项目的目标是开发一种主动超声系统，利用用户的专业知识来完善控制过程，而自主弹性（或粘弹性）映射可以提高图像质量，并允许人类操作员最好地利用他们的技能进行优化和诊断。该项目的研究产品包括：(i)超声弹性成像的数据融合技术；（ii）交互式超声弹性成像方法；（iii）安全高效的设备实施框架。超声系统将在一个试验台上进行验证，该试验台基于合适的实验室模型和现有超声设备的实时控制。与现有方法相比，研究人员将专注于这种新范式的独特方面，包括：(1)新的主动，用户-机器，成像技术改善了组织机械特性的表征；(2)将算法和用户界面系统地过渡到嵌入式计算机，以便设备安全执行。这需要克服与粘弹性成像和人在环超声控制集成相关的智力挑战，以及从计算力学、控制和估计以及嵌入式系统设计中提取的新理论结果的综合。该项目还具有广泛的教育和推广组成部分，包括课程开发，重点关注安全关键医疗网络物理系统的设计，该系统表现出高度动态的系统行为和植物不确定性，人类互动以及实时实施的需求。这个项目的外展部分也将提高大学预科学生对研究和工程职业的潜力和吸引力的认识。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Due to low operating cost and patient safety, ultrasound is widely accepted as one of the best forms of medical imaging compared to similar technologies, such as Computer Tomography (CT) scans or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Still, there can be large variability in image quality obtained by different experts imaging the same patient, which can affect successful diagnosis and patient treatment. This problem becomes even more pronounced across patients. Consequently, to decrease this variability this project will develop imaging techniques that are not passive but are based on real-time ultrasound beam control and adaptation, while facilitating best use of operator expertise to obtain the most informative images. Such new active ultrasound systems, where expert users with varying levels of training interact with a smart ultrasound device to improve medical imaging and facilitate diagnosis, will provide significant performance gains compared to present systems that are only manually controlled. This project will also have a significant societal impact in accurate, safe, and cost-effective diagnosis of many medical conditions, such as cancers or liver fibrosis. For instance, the use of such systems for breast cancer diagnosis will significantly reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies, which currently cost more than $1 billion annually in the US alone. At the same time this technology can enable a variety of other imaging applications that rely on different forms of ultrasound, such as mapping of the heart chambers using Doppler ultrasound or identifying the mechanical properties of materials in structures for failure prognosis.Specifically, the goal of this project is the development of an active ultrasound system where user expertise is employed to refine the control process, while autonomous elasticity (or viscoelasticity) mapping improves image quality and allows human operator to best use their skills for both optimization and diagnosis. The project's research products include: (i) data fusion techniques for ultrasound elastography; (ii) methods for interactive ultrasound elastography; and (iii) framework for safe and efficient device implementation. The ultrasound system will be validated on a test-bed based on suitable laboratory phantoms and real-time control of existing ultrasound devices. Investigators will focus on the unique aspects of this novel paradigm that, compared to existing methods, include: (1) new active, user-machine, imaging techniques improving on the characterization of the mechanical properties of tissue; and (2) the systematic transition of algorithms and user interfaces to embedded computers for safe execution by the device. This requires overcoming intellectual challenges related to the integration of visco-elastography mapping and human-on-the-loop ultrasound control, as well as synthesis of new theoretical results drawing from computational mechanics, controls and estimation, and embedded systems design. The project also has extensive education and outreach components, including curriculum development focused on design of safety-critical medical cyber-physical systems that exhibit highly dynamical system behaviors and plant uncertainty, human interactions, and the need for real-time implementation. The outreach component of this project will also improve the pre-college students' awareness of the potential and attractiveness of a research and engineering career.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.