Development of a portable 3D ultrasound imaging system for musculoskeletal tissues

3D ultrasound is a promising imaging modality for clinical diagnosis and treatment monitoring. Its cost is relatively low in comparison with CT and MRI, no intensive training and radiation protection is required for its operation, and its hardware is movable and can potentially be portable. In this study, we developed a portable freehand 3D ultrasound imaging system for the assessment of musculoskeletal body parts. A portable ultrasound scanner was used to obtain real-time B-mode ultrasound images of musculoskeletal tissues and an electromagnetic spatial sensor was fixed on the ultrasound probe to acquire the position and orientation of the images. The images were digitized with a video digitization device and displayed with its orientation and position synchronized in real-time with the data obtained by the spatial sensor. A program was developed for volume reconstruction, visualization, segmentation and measurement using Visual C++ and Visualization toolkits (VTK) software. A 2D Gaussian filter and a Median filter were implemented to improve the quality of the B-scan images collected by the portable ultrasound scanner. An improved distance-weighted grid-mapping algorithm was proposed for volume reconstruction. Temporal calibrations were conducted to correct the delay between the collections of images and spatial data. Spatial calibrations were performed using a cross-wire phantom. The system accuracy was validated by one cylinder and two cuboid phantoms made of silicone. The average errors for distance measurement in three orthogonal directions in comparison with micrometer measurement were 0.06 ± 0.39, −0.27 ± 0.27, and 0.33 ± 0.39 mm, respectively. The average error for volume measurement was −0.18% ± 5.44% for the three phantoms. The system has been successfully used to obtain the volume images of a fetus phantom, the fingers and forearms of human subjects. For a typical volume with 126 × 103 × 109 voxels, the 3D image could be reconstructed from 258 B-scans (640 × 480 pixels) within one minute using a portable PC with Pentium IV 2.4 GHz CPU and 512 MB memories. It is believed that such a portable volume imaging system will have many applications in the assessment of musculoskeletal tissues because of its easy accessibility.     

Real-time implementation of coherent speckle suppression in B-scan images

Early experiences of new forms of adaptive filtering for ultrasound speckle reduction and parametric imaging, using off-line conventional digital processing, have been sufficiently encouraging to warrant examining the feasibility of implementing specific algorithms in real-time. A hardware two-dimensional real-time filter is described which consists of a hybrid digital/analogues system in which the video signal from any scanner is sampled to 256 points per line and passed sequentially through a series of shift registers, in order to derive a 5 x 5 window of values which surrounds the image point currently being processed. These 25 video signals are then used as inputs to an analogue processor, which provides the filtered output. The real-time processed images show clear evidence of speckle smoothing without blurring of tissue structural information but possess limited pixel resolution.     

粒子场数字全息诊断中的再现算法研究

 粒子场的数字全息诊断中,良好的再现算法能够在较短的时间内给出高质量的再现像。利用标准粒子板模拟单层面的粒子场,使用大面阵CCD实现同轴数字全息记录,得到了大尺寸的数字全息图。针对4种数字全息再现算法,本文从再现图像的质量、再现全息图的大小和计算速度3个主要方面进行了比较研究,结果表明角谱算法(FFT-AS)具有再现图像背景均匀,再现结果中无物理图像压缩,可以再现大尺寸的全息图且具有较快计算速度的优点,适合于粒子场同轴数字全息图的再现计算。     

数字式超声内窥成像系统

介绍了一种采用前置微型电机的新型推拉式超声内窥镜的研制方法.在该内镜系统中,采用FPGA实现成像处理功能,运用编码激励技术以提高系统的信噪比和探测深度,使用了微型前置探头取代了目前商用超声内镜中所采用的钢丝连接以驱动换能器进行旋转扫描.该仪器在300 h的连续工作测试中能够正常运行.相较模拟成像系统,数字系统将模数转换置于信号处理的最前端,从而能够保留回声的更多信息.这使得编码激励、数字式正交解调系统获得更高的成像质量.将电机前置于探头附近,能够较外部导线牵引旋转方式获得更大的旋转稳定性、更高的超声图像质量和更长的使用寿命.     

数字式超声内窥成像系统(英文)

The development of a novel push-type ultrasonic endoscope is described in which probe rotation is accomplished by a small motor situated near the transducer. A digital FPGA-based ultrasound imaging system is implemented which uses coded excitation to increase the SNR and penetration depth, with probe rotation accomplished by a small motor situated near the transducer replacing the external motor and the long steel wire used in other ultrasonic endoscopes. The apparatus is tested continuously for 300 hours with no obvious problems. The coded excitation, digital quadrature demodulation imaging system can obtain ultrasonic images of higher quality and more information of the echo is preserved compared with the analog imaging system, because the analog digital conversion is moved to the first step of the signal processing.The digital imaging system possesses a higher SNR resulting in a sharp image. Locating the motor near the probe improves the consistency of rotational speed in comparison with external guide-wire rotation, and increases the image quality and life-span of these devices.     

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.     

A comparison of iterative Fourier transform algorithms for image quality estimation

A comparison was established between two iterative Fourier transform algorithms (IFTAs), such as the original Gerchberg–Saxton (GS) and the mixed-region amplitude freedom (MRAF) algorithms, for the hologram reconstruction of different target images through the full reference image quality estimation (IQE) and pixel homogeneity in the Fourier plane presented theoretically and experimentally. The comparison was applied depending upon both algorithms based on a computer-generated hologram (CGH) implemented utilizing a reflective phase-modulated liquid-crystal spatial light modulator (LC-SLM) to obtain the digital kinoform holograms of the desired intensity distributions. These digital holograms were applied to reconstruct the intensity patterns for 852 nm, which represents a laser beam source. The theoretical and experimental results of the reconstructed patterns obtained using the MRAF algorithm were found to be smoother and better than the patterns obtained using the GS algorithm. Unmodulated light beam (dc term) is removed from the reconstructed patterns attributed to digital kinoform holograms of MRAF algorithm as an alternative to the theoretical and experimental results without using any additional optic equipment at the light path. Moreover, this paper discussed the full reference objective quality estimations, such as mean square error (MSE), peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), structural content (SC), normalized absolute error (NAE), normalized cross correlation (NK), and homogeneity of pixels, through the contrast (Cont) and inverse difference moment (IDM) for numerical and experimental results. According to the two desired intensity distributions processed theoretically and experimentally, the results of MRAF algorithm were found to be in the highly accurate recovered phase, the quality of image was enhanced, and the dc term was decreased. Image quality estimation of full reference objective relay on the feedback algorithms experimental attestation has not been implemented yet.     

Volume quantification by fuzzy logic modelling in freehand ultrasound imaging

Introduction

Many algorithms exist for 3D reconstruction of data from freehand 2D ultrasound slices. These methods are based on interpolation techniques to fill the voxels from the pixels. For quantification purposes, segmentation is involved to delineate the structure of interest. However, speckle and partial volume effect errors can affect quantification.

Objective

This study aimed to assess the effect of the combination of a fuzzy model and 3D reconstruction algorithms of freehand ultrasound images on these errors.

Methods

We introduced a fuzzification step to correct the initial segmentation, by weighting the pixels by a distribution function, taking into account the local gray levels, the orientation of the local gradient, and the local contrast-to-noise ratio. We then used two of the most wide-spread reconstruction algorithms (pixel nearest neighbour (PNN) and voxel nearest neighbour (VNN)) to interpolate and create the volume of the structure. Finally, defuzzification was used to estimate the optimal volume.

Validation

B-scans were acquired using 5 MHz and 8 MHz ultrasound probes on ultrasound tissue-mimicking phantoms. Quantitative evaluation of the reconstructed structures was done by comparing the method output to the real volumes. Comparison was also done with classical PNN and VNN algorithms.

Results

With the fuzzy model quantification errors were less than 4.3%, whereas with classical algorithms, errors were larger (10.3% using PNN, 17.2% using VNN). Furthermore, for very small structures (0.5 cm³), errors reached 24.3% using the classical VNN algorithm, while they were about 9.6% with the fuzzy VNN model.

Conclusion

These experiments prove that the fuzzy model allows volumes to be determined with better accuracy and reproducibility, especially for small structures (<3 cm³).     

Real time 3D visualization of ultrasonic data using a standard PC

This paper describes a flexible, software-based scan converter capable of rendering 3D volumetric data in real time on a standard PC. The display system is used in the remotely accessible and software-configurable multichannel ultrasound sampling system (RASMUS system) developed at the Center for Fast Ultrasound Imaging. The display system is split into two modules: data transfer and display. These two modules are independent and communicate using shared memory and a predefined set of functions. It is, thus, possible to use the display program with a different data-transfer module which is tailored to another source of data (scanner, database, etc.). The data-transfer module of the RASMUS system is based on a digital signal processor from Analog Devices--ADSP 21060. The beamformer is connected to a PC via the link channels of the ADSP. A direct memory access channel transfers the data from the ADSP to a memory buffer. The display module, which is based on OpenGL, uses this memory buffer as a texture map that is passed to the graphics board. The scan conversion, image interpolation, and logarithmic compression are performed by the graphics board, thus reducing the load on the main processor to a minimum. The scan conversion is done by mapping the ultrasonic data to polygons. The format of the image is determined only by the coordinates of the polygons allowing for any kind of geometry to be displayed on the screen. Data from color flow mapping is added by alpha-blending. The 3D data are displayed either as cross-sectional planes, or as a fully rendered 3D volume displayed as a pyramid. All sides of the pyramid can be changed to reveal B-mode or C-mode scans, and the pyramid can be rotated in all directions in real time.     

基于有限脉冲响应滤波器的数字全息零级像消除

针对数字全息中零级像的存在影响数字再现像的质量,分析数字全息图的记录、再现原理及频谱特性,提出了一种利用有限脉冲响应滤波器消除全息图数字再现中零级像的方法.该方法只需记录一幅数字全息图,不需要相移器材或其他辅助设备,直接利用数字图像处理对数字全息图在空域进行预处理,消除全息再现时的零级像干扰.对比了数字模拟和实验拍摄到的全息图在应用有限脉冲响应滤波器消除零级像前后的再现结果,表明该方法可消除零级衍射像,改善重建像质量,并且算法简单.     

Volume reconstruction of freehand three-dimensional ultrasound using median filters

Objectives

This paper aims to apply median filters for reducing interpolation error and improving the quality of 3D images in a freehand 3D ultrasound (US) system.

Background and motivation

Freehand 3D US imaging has been playing an important role in obtaining the entire 3D impression of tissues and organs. Reconstructing a sequence of irregularly located 2D US images (B-scans) into a 3D data set is one of the key procedures for visualization and data analysis.

Methods

In this study, we investigated the feasibility of using median filters for the reconstruction of 3D images in a freehand 3D US system. The B-scans were collected using a 7.5 MHz ultrasound probe. Four algorithms including the standard median (SM), Gaussian weighted median (GWM) and two types of distance-weighted median (DWM) filters were proposed to filter noises and compute voxel intensities. Qualitative and quantitative comparisons were made among the results of different methods based on the image set captured in freehand from the forearm of a healthy subject. A leave-one-out approach was used to demonstrate the performance of the median filters for predicting the removed B-scan pixels.

Results

Compared with the voxel nearest-neighbourhood (VNN) and distance-weighted (DW) interpolation methods, the four median filters reduced the interpolation error by 8.0-24.0% and 1.2-21.8%, respectively, when 1/4 to 5 B-scans was removed from the raw B-scan sequence.

Conclusions

In summary, the median filters can improve the quality of volume reconstruction by reducing the interpolation errors and facilitate the following image analyses in clinical applications.     

Study on digital holography with single phase-shifting operation

The digital holography with single phase-shifting operation has been studied. Experimental results and computer-simulated work are presented. The phase-shifting error makes the intensity of primary image decrease and the conjugate image appear in reconstruction. The explicit equation for explaining these effects is given. The calculation of the normalized intercorrelation peak between the input and the reconstruction for different algorithms shows that, when the phase-shifting operation is the main error source, the quality of the image reconstructed from the digital holography with single phase-shifting operation is favorable.     

In vitro evaluation of the impact of ultrasound scanner settings and contrast bolus volume on time-intensity curves

The objective of this study was to assess in vitro the impact of ultrasound scanner settings and contrast bolus volume on time-intensity curves formed from dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound image loops. An indicator-dilution experiment was developed with an in vitro flow phantom setup used with SonoVue contrast agent (Bracco SpA, Milan, Italy). Imaging was performed with a Philips iU22 scanner and two transducers (L9-3 linear and C5-1 curvilinear). The following ultrasound scanner settings were investigated, along with contrast bolus volume: contrast-specific nonlinear pulse sequence, gain, mechanical index, focal zone depth, acoustic pulse center frequency and bandwidth. Four parameters (rise time, mean transit time, peak intensity, and area under the curve) were derived from time-intensity curves which were obtained after pixel by pixel linearization of log-compressed data (also referred to as video data) included in a region of interest. Rise time was found to be the parameter least impacted by changes to ultrasound scanner settings and contrast bolus volume; the associated coefficient of variation varied between 0.7% and 6.9% while it varied between 0.8% and 19%, 12% and 71%, and 9.2% and 66%, for mean transit time, peak intensity, and area under the curve, respectively. The present study assessed the impact of ultrasound scanner settings and contrast bolus volume on time-intensity curve analysis. One should be aware of these issues to standardize their technique in each specific organ of interest and to achieve accurate, sensitive, and reproducible data using dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound. One way to mitigate the impact of ultrasound scanner settings in longitudinal, multi-center quantitative dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound studies may be to prohibit any adjustments to those settings throughout a given study. Further clinical studies are warranted to confirm the reproducibility and diagnostic or prognostic value of time-intensity curve parameters measurements in a particular clinical scenario of interest, for example that of cancer patients undergoing vascular targeting therapies.     

A new method of spatial compounding imaging

A new method of spatial compound imaging is presented that improves image quality without the usual requirement to decrease the frame rate. The new method of imaging utilizes three transducers for data acquisition. The transducer located at the center of the transducer system is a phased array probe that acts as both transmitter and receiver. The other transducers are unfocused pistons that act only as receivers. Envelope data acquired by each transducer are combined to form a final image with improved quality (speckle contrast, target detectability and lateral resolution). It is shown that the improvement in speckle contrast depends on the correlation between individual images acquired by the transducers. The effective aperture approach is used for analytic estimation of the correlation between images in order to optimize the lateral separation between transducers. Using simulations, several compounding strategies have been performed to find the strategy that maximizes image quality. The central frequency of 2.5 MHz is used in simulations. Quantitative analysis of simulated B-mode images shows that the new method of imaging efficiently improves visibility, detectability, and lateral resolution of low contrast regions. The image frame rate is preserved because multiple scans are not required for the spatial compounding.     

Comparing reconstruction algorithms for the 2D optoacoustic tomography of biological tissues

Three types of reconstruction algorithms for the optoacoustic tomography of biological tissues, based on delay-and-sum beam-forming, Fourier transform, and time reversal, are proposed. The comparison, based on both numerical and experimental data, shows the advantages of the delay-and-sum beam-forming method, which ensures acceptable computation time and improved quality of the reconstructed image.     

X射线光场成像技术研究

X射线三维成像技术是目前国内外X射线成像研究领域的一个研究热点.但针对一些特殊成像目标,传统X射线计算层析(CT)成像模式易出现投影信息缺失等问题,影响CT重建的图像质量,使得CT成像的应用受到一定的限制.本文主要研究了基于光场成像理论的X射线三维立体成像技术.首先从同步辐射光源模型出发,对X射线光场成像进行建模;然后,基于光场成像数字重聚焦理论,对成像目标场在深度方向上进行切片重建.结果表明:该方法可以实现对成像目标任一视角下任一深度的内部切片重建,但是由于光学聚焦过程中的离焦现象,会引入较为严重的背景噪声.当对其原始数据进行滤波后,再进行X射线光场重聚焦,可以有效消除重建伪影,提高图像的重建质量.本研究既有算法理论意义,又可应用于工业、医疗等较复杂目标的快速检测,具有较大的应用价值.     

基于DSP和FPGA图像采集技术的研究

本文介绍了一种基于可编程逻辑器件(FPGA)和数字信号处理器(DSP)的图像采集系统。采用增强型视频输入处理芯片SAA7111A完成对视频信号的模数转换,以FPGA为数据逻辑控制单元,结合DSP控制实现了对图像的实时采集传输。介绍了系统的整体结构。并详细讨论了FPGA的控制逻辑,DMA图像存取等工作原理。     

Optofluidic system for three-dimensional sensing and identification of micro-organisms with digital holographic microscopy

Optofluidic devices offer flexibility for a variety of tasks involving biological specimen. We propose a system for three-dimensional (3D) sensing and identification of biological micro-organisms. This system consists of a microfluidic device along with a digital holographic microscope and relevant statistical recognition algorithms. The microfluidic channel is used to house the micro-organisms, while the holographic microscope and a CCD camera record their digital holograms. The holograms can be computationally reconstructed in 3D using a variety of algorithms, such as the Fresnel transform. Statistical recognition algorithms are used to analyze and identify the micro-organisms from the reconstructed wavefront. Experimental results are presented. Because of computational reconstruction of wavefronts in holographic imaging, this technique offers unique advantages that allow one to image micro-organisms within a deep channel while removing the inherent microfluidic-induced aberration through interferometery.     

Reconstruction of 3D ultrasound images based on Cyclic Regularized Savitzky-Golay filters

This paper presents a new three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound reconstruction algorithm for generation of 3D images from a series of two-dimensional (2D) B-scans acquired in the mechanical linear scanning framework. Unlike most existing 3D ultrasound reconstruction algorithms, which have been developed and evaluated in the freehand scanning framework, the new algorithm has been designed to capitalize the regularity pattern of the mechanical linear scanning, where all the B-scan slices are precisely parallel and evenly spaced. The new reconstruction algorithm, referred to as the Cyclic Regularized Savitzky-Golay (CRSG) filter, is a new variant of the Savitzky-Golay (SG) smoothing filter. The CRSG filter has been improved upon the original SG filter in two respects: First, the cyclic indicator function has been incorporated into the least square cost function to enable the CRSG filter to approximate nonuniformly spaced data of the unobserved image intensities contained in unfilled voxels and reduce speckle noise of the observed image intensities contained in filled voxels. Second, the regularization function has been augmented to the least squares cost function as a mechanism to balance between the degree of speckle reduction and the degree of detail preservation. The CRSG filter has been evaluated and compared with the Voxel Nearest-Neighbor (VNN) interpolation post-processed by the Adaptive Speckle Reduction (ASR) filter, the VNN interpolation post-processed by the Adaptive Weighted Median (AWM) filter, the Distance-Weighted (DW) interpolation, and the Adaptive Distance-Weighted (ADW) interpolation, on reconstructing a synthetic 3D spherical image and a clinical 3D carotid artery bifurcation in the mechanical linear scanning framework. This preliminary evaluation indicates that the CRSG filter is more effective in both speckle reduction and geometric reconstruction of 3D ultrasound images than the other methods.     

Research interface on a programmable ultrasound scanner

Motivation

Commercial ultrasound machines in the past did not provide the ultrasound researchers access to raw ultrasound data. Lack of this ability has impeded evaluation and clinical testing of novel ultrasound algorithms and applications.

Objectives

Recently, we developed a flexible ultrasound back-end where all the processing for the conventional ultrasound modes, such as B, M, color flow and spectral Doppler, was performed in software. The back-end has been incorporated into a commercial ultrasound machine, the Hitachi HiVision 5500. The goal of this work is to develop an ultrasound research interface on the back-end for acquiring raw ultrasound data from the machine.

Methods

The research interface has been designed as a software module on the ultrasound back-end. To increase the amount of raw ultrasound data that can be spooled in the limited memory available on the back-end, we have developed a method that can losslessly compress the ultrasound data in real time.

Results and discussion

The raw ultrasound data could be obtained in any conventional ultrasound mode, including duplex and triplex modes. Furthermore, use of the research interface does not decrease the frame rate or otherwise affect the clinical usability of the machine. The lossless compression of the ultrasound data in real time can increase the amount of data spooled by ∼2.3 times, thus allowing more than 6 s of raw ultrasound data to be acquired in all the modes. The interface has been used not only for early testing of new ideas with in vitro data from phantoms, but also for acquiring in vivo data for fine-tuning ultrasound applications and conducting clinical studies. We present several examples of how newer ultrasound applications, such as elastography, vibration imaging and 3D imaging, have benefited from this research interface. Since the research interface is entirely implemented in software, it can be deployed on existing HiVision 5500 ultrasound machines and may be easily upgraded in the future.

Conclusions

The developed research interface can aid researchers in the rapid testing and clinical evaluation of new ultrasound algorithms and applications. Additionally, we believe that our approach would be applicable to designing research interfaces on other ultrasound machines.