Method for faster ultrasound imaging

描述（由申请人提供）：超声成像是一种低成本、安全和移动的成像方式，这在一定程度上解释了其在临床放射学中的广泛应用。尽管 2D 解剖超声成像速度非常快，生成图像的速度与眼睛看到的图像一样快，但对于更精细的扫描，帧速率可能会严重降低。在肝脏病灶的切除和/或消融过程中，非常需要实时可视化与 3D 脉管系统相关的肿瘤，这增加了切除/消融所有肿瘤组织同时保留重要血管的可能性。但获取大量 3D 信息通常会将帧速率降低到图像制导无法接受的水平。我们提出了空间和时间编码方案的组合，能够将超声图像的采集速率加速数倍，从而能够以高帧速率获得精细的超声图像。使用多个叠加光束一次在多个方向上探测感兴趣的解剖结构，与一次在单个方向上探测对象的传统采集相比，将成像时间缩短数倍。基于从所有重叠光束接收到的原始信号，可以使用我们提出的空间和时间算法在重建阶段恢复来自各个光束的信号。模拟和实验声学模型获得了初步结果，成像速度提高了 32 倍。 公共健康相关性：超声成像是一种特别广泛的医学成像方式，部分原因在于其安全性和低成本。由于超声成像速度快，生成图像的速度与人眼看到图像的速度一样快，因此超声成像通常用于指导手术，例如肝脏切除和肿瘤消融。更精细的超声图像（可以在 3D 中看到肿瘤与血管床的结合）将有助于安全地去除所有病变并保留重要血管，但会导致帧速率低得令人无法接受。本项目提出了一种将超声成像中的图像采集过程加速数倍的方法，从而能够以高帧速率获取 3D 和血管信息。初步结果显示成像速度提高了 32 倍。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Ultrasound imaging is a low-cost, safe and mobile imaging modality, which explains in part its widespread use in clinical Radiology. Although 2D anatomical ultrasound imaging appears very fast, generating images as fast as the eye can see them, frame rates can be severely degraded for more elaborate scans. During the resection and/or ablation of liver lesions, visualizing the tumor(s) in relation to the 3D vasculature in real- time would be highly desirable, increasing the odds of removing/ablating all tumor tissues while sparing important vessels. But the acquisition of large amounts of 3D information would normally degrade frame rates to levels unacceptable for image guidance. We propose a combination of spatial and temporal encoding schemes capable of accelerating by several-fold the acquisition rate of ultrasound images, allowing elaborate ultrasound images to be obtained at high frame rates. The anatomy of interest is probed in multiple directions at a time using multiple superposed beams, reducing imaging time by several-fold compared to conventional acquisitions where the object is probed in a single direction at a time. Based on the raw signal received from all overlapped beams, signals from individual beams can be recovered at the reconstruction stage using our proposed spatial and temporal algorithms. Preliminary results from simulated and experimental acoustic phantoms were obtained where imaging speed was increased by up to 32-fold. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Ultrasound imaging is a particularly widespread medical imaging modality, due in part to its safety and low cost. Because it is fast, generating images as fast as the human eye can see them, ultrasound imaging is often used to guide procedures, such as liver resections and tumor ablations. More elaborate ultrasound images, where tumor(s) could be seen in 3D in conjunction to the vascular bed, would be helpful toward safely removing all lesions and preserving important vessels but would lead to unacceptably low frame rates. The present project proposes an approach to speed-up by several-fold the image acquisition process in ultrasound imaging, enabling 3D and vascular information to be obtained with high frame rates. Preliminary results were obtained where imaging speed was increased by up to 32-fold.