A measurement-domain adaptive beamforming approach for ultrasound instrument based on distributed compressed sensing: Initial development

High efficient acquisition of the sensor array signals and accurate reconstruction of the backscattering medium are important issues in ultrasound imaging instrument. This paper presents a novel measurement-domain adaptive beamforming approach (MABF) based on distributed compressed sensing (DCS) which seeks to simultaneously measure signals that are each individually sparse in some domain(s) and also mutually correlated with much few measurements under the Nyquist rate. Instead of sampling conventional backscattering signals at the Nyquist rate, few linear projections of the returned signal with random vectors are taken as measurements, which can reduce the amount of samples per channel greatly and makes the real-time transmission of sensor array data possible. Then high resolution ultrasound image is reconstructed from the few measurements of DCS directly by the proposed MABF algorithm without recovering the raw sensor signals with complex convex optimization algorithm. The simulated results show the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Co-registration method for photoacoustic imaging and laser speckle imaging

Combining photoacoustic (PA) imaging with laser speckle (LS) imaging (LSI) can simultaneously determine total hemoglobin concentration (HbT), hemoglobin oxygen saturation (SO2), and blood flow rates. Thus,the co-registration of PA and LS images is important in physiological studies and pathological diagnosis.This letter presents a co-registration algorithm combining mutual information with the maximum betweenclass variance segmentation method (Otsu method). The mutual information and Otsu method are used to provide the registration measure criterion and image feature recognition, respectively. The evaluation results show that the registration function possesses a single maximum peak and high smoothness across the global co-registration district, indicating a robust behavior. Moreover, this method has good registration accuracy, and the fusion result simultaneously visualizes the separate functional information of two kindsof images.     

3D reconstruction of a carotid bifurcation from 2D transversal ultrasound images

Visualizing and analyzing the morphological structure of carotid bifurcations are important for understanding the etiology of carotid atherosclerosis, which is a major cause of stroke and transient ischemic attack. For delineation of vasculatures in the carotid artery, ultrasound examinations have been widely employed because of a noninvasive procedure without ionizing radiation. However, conventional 2D ultrasound imaging has technical limitations in observing the complicated 3D shapes and asymmetric vasodilation of bifurcations. This study aims to propose image-processing techniques for better 3D reconstruction of a carotid bifurcation in a rat by using 2D cross-sectional ultrasound images. A high-resolution ultrasound imaging system with a probe centered at 40 MHz was employed to obtain 2D transversal images. The lumen boundaries in each transverse ultrasound image were detected by using three different techniques; an ellipse-fitting, a correlation mapping to visualize the decorrelation of blood flow, and the ellipse-fitting on the correlation map. When the results are compared, the third technique provides relatively good boundary extraction. The incomplete boundaries of arterial lumen caused by acoustic artifacts are somewhat resolved by adopting the correlation mapping and the distortion in the boundary detection near the bifurcation apex was largely reduced by using the ellipse-fitting technique. The 3D lumen geometry of a carotid artery was obtained by volumetric rendering of several 2D slices. For the 3D vasodilatation of the carotid bifurcation, lumen geometries at the contraction and expansion states were simultaneously depicted at various view angles. The present 3D reconstruction methods would be useful for efficient extraction and construction of the 3D lumen geometries of carotid bifurcations from 2D ultrasound images.     

An adaptive threshold filter for ultrasound signal rejection

The threshold filter is a frequently used technique in ultrasound B-scan to reject the small echoes contributed from backscattering that blur the tissue interface and reduce the image contrast. Note that using the threshold based on one value would simultaneously destroy local waveform features of the reflection echoes with amplitudes larger than threshold value. To resolve this problem, we developed an adaptive threshold filter based on the noise-assisted empirical mode decomposition (EMD). Computer simulations at 7.5 MHz using a single-element transducer with a bandwidth of 60% and a pulselength of 0.5 μs were carried out to explore the feasibility of the algorithm. Image measurements on the carotid artery using a 7.5 MHz, 128 elements, 1D linear array transducer with the same characteristics as those in simulations were used to verify the performance of the algorithm in practice. Compared to the result from the conventional threshold technique, the adaptive threshold filter is able to successfully suppress the smaller backscattering signals without changing the local waveform features of the preserved significant echoes due to refection.     

四光束剪切相干成像目标重构算法研究

针对传统剪切光束成像技术的准实时性问题,提出用口字形排布的四束光代替传统L形三束剪切光照射目标,研究了四光束剪切相干成像目标重构算法.只需单次测量就能同时重构出四幅目标图像,减少了用于降低散斑噪声、获取高质量图像所需的测量次数,同时大大减少了多组发射时的光束切换次数,提高了成像效率.在算法实现中,通过最小二乘法恢复出四组波前相位,利用散斑幅值的简单代数运算恢复波前幅值,从而重构出目标图像.仿真结果表明,与传统方法相比,在图像质量相同的前提下,本文方法所需的数据采集时间减少了至少1/2,不但提高了目标重构效率,还可为远程运动目标的成像识别提供更好的手段.     

自建光声超声双模态成像系统的肿瘤成像分析

现有B超成像可以提供基于声阻抗差异的组织解剖结构信息,而近年来研究发现,光声成像可以提供标记组织成分的分布和功能信息。本文基于商用B超仪和脉冲激光系统建立了光声超声双模态成像系统,实现了超声组织结构成像和光声生物功能的同时成像。首先基于血红蛋白在某些波段的较强吸光性,实现了肿瘤内部组织血管灌注图像;其次用链接有靶向抗体的纳米颗粒作为靶向光声造影剂,对恶性肿瘤边缘和内部的血管以及血管附近的肿瘤组织进行了成像。最终,通过超声和光声的融合图像提供的肿瘤结构信息与光声图像提供的肿瘤功能信息,可以准确识别肿瘤组织。     

Fusion of conventional ultrasound imaging and acousto-optic sensing by use of a standard pulsed-ultrasound scanner

Acousto-optic sensing (AOS) is a dual-wave sensing technique based on the ultrasound modulation of diffuse light in a turbid medium. We experimentally demonstrate the feasibility of combining AOS and conventional ultrasound imaging by use of a commercially available pulsed-ultrasound scanner coupled with a photorefractive crystal-based optical interferometry system. Optically absorbing targets embedded in highly diffusive phantoms (mus'= 10 cm(-1)) are imaged through a thickness of 27 mm with millimeter resolution. The acousto-optic images are intrinsically coregistered with the ultrasound images.     

A multirate scan conversion method

B-mode ultrasonic imaging requires that the acquired polar coordinate ultrasound data be converted to the Cartesian format used by digital monitors. Image quality depends on the interpolation algorithm used to this purpose. In this work a selective sampling technique, based on acquiring data at specific points of the scanned area together with a straightforward linear interpolation step, is proposed. Hardware complexity is avoided, because the interpolation task can be carried out by software in real time, concurrently with data acquisition. The performances of the proposed approach are analysed with regard to those provided by other algorithms and some implementation issues are addressed.     

Improvement of ultrasound speckle image velocimetry using image enhancement techniques

Ultrasound-based techniques have been developed and widely used in noninvasive measurement of blood velocity. Speckle image velocimetry (SIV), which applies a cross-correlation algorithm to consecutive B-mode images of blood flow has often been employed owing to its better spatial resolution compared with conventional Doppler-based measurement techniques. The SIV technique utilizes speckles backscattered from red blood cell (RBC) aggregates as flow tracers. Hence, the intensity and size of such speckles are highly dependent on hemodynamic conditions. The grayscale intensity of speckle images varies along the radial direction of blood vessels because of the shear rate dependence of RBC aggregation. This inhomogeneous distribution of echo speckles decreases the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a cross-correlation analysis and produces spurious results. In the present study, image-enhancement techniques such as contrast-limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE), min/max technique, and subtraction of background image (SB) method were applied to speckle images to achieve a more accurate SIV measurement. A mechanical sector ultrasound scanner was used to obtain ultrasound speckle images from rat blood under steady and pulsatile flows. The effects of the image-enhancement techniques on SIV analysis were evaluated by comparing image intensities, velocities, and cross-correlation maps. The velocity profiles and wall shear rate (WSR) obtained from RBC suspension images were compared with the analytical solution for validation. In addition, the image-enhancement techniques were applied to in vivo measurement of blood flow in human vein. The experimental results of both in vitro and in vivo SIV measurements show that the intensity gradient in heterogeneous speckles has substantial influence on the cross-correlation analysis. The image-enhancement techniques used in this study can minimize errors encountered in ultrasound SIV measurement in which RBCs are used as flow tracers instead of exogenous contrast agents.     

Multiple-image encryption algorithm based on mixed image element and permutation

To improve encryption efficiency and facilitate the secure transmission of multiple digital images, by defining the pure image element and mixed image element, this paper presents a new multiple-image encryption (MIE) algorithm based on the mixed image element and permutation, which can simultaneously encrypt any number of images. Firstly, segment the original images into pure image elements; secondly, scramble all the pure image elements with the permutation generated by the piecewise linear chaotic map (PWLCM) system; thirdly, combine mixed image elements into scrambled images; finally, diffuse the content of mixed image elements by performing the exclusive OR (XOR) operation among scrambled images and the chaotic image generated by another PWLCM system. The comparison with two similar algorithms is made. Experimental results and algorithm analyses show that the proposed MIE algorithm is very simple and efficient, which is suitable for practical image encryption.