Speckle-free phase-contrast ultrasound imaging

摘要 超声（US）成像是最常见的医学成像方法之一，并且已经具有 对医疗保健的实践和提供产生了巨大的影响。超声成像的优点是， 非侵入性的、成本有效的，并且提供具有与人体器官相称的穿透深度的图像 显像在这最后一点上，US成像相对于光学成像技术具有相当大的优势， 相比之下，由于穿透深度非常差而受到阻碍。 该提议基于光学成像和US成像之间存在密切相似性的事实。我们 我最近开发了一种新的光学显微镜技术，称为斜背照明显微镜 (OBM)其在任意厚度的组织中提供类似DIC的相位对比。虽然OBM是一个非常简单的 虽然该方法获得快速、高分辨率、无标记的组织结构成像，但其在深度穿透方面受到限制， 约100μm。这种有限的深度穿透限制了OBM对浅表成像的适用性。 仅上皮组织。 受光学成像和US成像之间的密切相似性的启发，我们建议扩展 OBM直接应用于声学，使我们认为是一种全新的超声模式成为可能。 超声成像，称为斜后向散射超声（OBUS）成像。具体来说，OBUS成像在以下方面是不寻常的： 它是基于对透射声音而不是反射声音的检测，即使它被配置在 反射几何因此，它可以在任意厚度的组织中工作，因此不同于以前的传输 US成像技术。因为它是基于相位对比，OBUS成像揭示了根本不同的 比标准回波描记法的样本特征。此外，OBUS成像是无斑点的，这一直是一个长期的- 在美国成像领域面临的挑战 我们建议通过将其与一种称为差分像差成像的技术相结合来改进OBUS， 使其能够与传统的超声回波描记仪一样使用相同的样本和相同的硬件 显像将同时获得来自两种造影剂模态的信息，并将其组合， 增广样本重构我们的目标将是为未来奠定必要的基础 这项新技术的发展，我们认为这代表了美国成像的范式转变， 具有显著的临床影响。

ABSTRACT Ultrasound (US) imaging is one of the most common methods of medical imaging, and has had tremendous impact in the practice and delivery of healthcare. Advantages of ultrasound imaging are that it is non-invasive, cost-effective, and provides images with penetration depths commensurate with human organ imaging. In this last regard, US imaging has a considerable advantage over optical imaging techniques, which are hampered by very poor depth penetration in comparison. This proposal rests on the fact that there is a close analogy between optical imaging and US imaging. We have recently developed a new optical microscopy technique called Oblique Back-illumination Microscopy (OBM) that provides DIC-like phase contrast in arbitrarily thick tissue. While OBM is a remarkably simple method to obtain fast, high resolution, label-free imaging of tissue structure, it is limited in depth penetration to about 100µm. Such limited depth penetration restricts the applicability of OBM to superficial imaging of epithelial tissue only. Motivated by the close analogy between optical and US imaging, we propose to extend the concept of OBM directly to acoustics, enabling the possibility of what we believe to be an entirely new modality of US imaging, called Oblique Backscattering Ultrasound (OBUS) imaging. Specifically, OBUS imaging is unusual in that it is based on the detection of transmitted rather than reflected sound, even though it is configured in a reflection geometry. As such, it can operate in arbitrarily thick tissue, thus differing from previous transmission US imaging techniques. Because it is based on phase contrast, OBUS imaging reveals fundamentally different sample features than standard echography. Moreover, OBUS imaging is speckle-free, which has been a long- standing challenge in US imaging. We propose to improve OBUS by combining it with a technique called Differential Aberration Imaging, enabling it to work with the same samples and with the same hardware as a conventional echographic US imaging. Information from both contrast modalities will be obtained simultaneously, and combined to enable augmented sample reconstruction. Our goal will be to lay the necessary groundwork for the future development of this new technology, which we believe represents a paradigm shift in US imaging that may have significant clinical impact.