High Performance Strain Rate Imaging (SRI) of the Heart

描述（由申请人提供）： 随着发达国家人口的老龄化，以及心脏治疗方法的不断改进，对心脏功能的廉价、无创评估的需求日益增长。目前的应变率成像技术（SRI）有可能满足这一需求的一个显着的患者群体，因为它可以映射收缩过程，通过和沿着心肌壁;然而，它的效用是有限的，因为它的变形率的估计是角度依赖性的。Pixel Velocity（PVI）与密歇根大学生物医学超声实验室（UM）合作，提出开发一种廉价的相关处理器，实现心脏的高性能SRI。我们的解决方案将提供组织应变图像和“trashogram”（即，相关系数大小的图像）。本阶段I提案的具体目标是指定计算架构和算法，用于：a）实时超声图像序列的高效二维复相关; B）使用自适应帧抽取的SRI;以及c）SRI和超声造影数据的同时实时显示。最后，我们将使用实时图像数据在通用处理器上演示候选算法的性能。第一阶段的目标是提供硬件和软件规格，以便开始第二阶段的详细设计和实施工作。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): As the population of the developed world ages, and methods for cardiac therapy continually improve, there is a growing need for inexpensive, noninvasive assessment of cardiac function. Current strain rate imaging technology (SRI) has the potential to satisfy this need for a significant patient population since it can map contractile processes through and along the myocardial wall; however, its utility is limited because its estimates of deformation rate are angle-dependent. Pixel Velocity (PVI), working with the University of Michigan Biomedical Ultrasonics Lab (UM), proposes to develop an inexpensive correlation processor enabling high performance SRI of the heart. Our solution will provide real-time computation of tissue strain images and "trashograms"(i.e., images of the magnitude of the correlation coefficient.) The specific aims of this Phase I proposal are to specify the computational architecture and algorithm for: a) efficient, two-dimensional complex correlation of real-time ultrasound image sequences; b) SRI using adaptive frame decimation; and c) simultaneous real-time display of SRI and trashogram data. Finally, we will demonstrate the performance of candidate algorithms on a general purpose processor using real-time image data. The goal of Phase I is to provide hardware and software specifications to begin detailed design and implementation efforts in Phase II.