Sparsity driven ultrasound imaging

An image formation framework for ultrasound imaging from synthetic transducer arrays based on sparsity-driven regularization functionals using single-frequency Fourier domain data is proposed. The framework involves the use of a physics-based forward model of the ultrasound observation process, the formulation of image formation as the solution of an associated optimization problem, and the solution of that problem through efficient numerical algorithms. The sparsity-driven, model-based approach estimates a complex-valued reflectivity field and preserves physical features in the scene while suppressing spurious artifacts. It also provides robust reconstructions in the case of sparse and reduced observation apertures. The effectiveness of the proposed imaging strategy is demonstrated using experimental data.     

基于超快超声多普勒的三维脑损伤成像方法研究

三维超声微血管成像可直观呈现血流信息,对于脑血管疾病诊断和治疗具有重要意义。本文旨在将超快超声成像技术、超快超声功率多普勒技术和机械扫描相结合,实现脑血管三维成像和脑缺血区域评价。通过工程实现,完成了可同步控制微型线性位移平台移动和超声阵列超快发射、高速采集与压缩存储的三维扫描数据采集序列与系统。利用GPU并行运算,高效实现了超声图像波束合成方法,对原始射频超声数据完成重建。进而,基于SVD杂波滤除技术,从重建三维超声数据中提取了脑部的动态小血管信号,并获得了各切面的功率多普勒成像和冠状面彩色多普勒超声小血管成像。最后,采用体素方法对三维脑血管进行重建。大鼠在体实验结果表明,该成像系统可用于三维脑血管网络在体成像,以及脑血管损伤区域定位与量化评价。本工作对脑病检测技术发展与诊断方法研究具有一定的借鉴意义。此外,相关检测系统和成像算法具有一定普适性,对其他富含微血流血管的组织检测也有一定的参考价值。     

64 elements two-dimensional piezoelectric array for 3D imaging

Ultrasound has a large potential on non-invasive inspection with main applications in medical imaging and non-destructive testing (NDT). The increasing interest in 3D imaging applications leads to investigate new solutions for two-dimensional (2D) ultrasonic arrays with an affordable number of electronic channels without resolution degradation. 2D segmented annular arrays (SAAs) are a good compromise between resolution--image quality--and number of electronically active channels. A 1-3 piezoelectric composites are used as basis material to manufacture the array transducers due to their low planar coupling and high electromechanical coupling coefficients. A 1.5 MHz SAA of 64 elements and 20 mm of diameter was designed, manufactured and tested. The design key point is the use of a flexible circuit with electrodes and tracks that define the array geometry. The piezocomposite was used as a monolithic support. Soft backing and one matching layer were used. The array elements have been tested electrically and acoustically showing good agreement with a KLM-based simulation model. Acoustical field measurements in water at different steering angles were made and compared with simulations performed with a model that uses an exact solution of the impulse response approach. Side lobes are important because the array geometry used was designed to work in metals for NDT purposes. Smaller array elements should be made for medical applications.     

An optimization method for designing SENSE imaging RF coil arrays

An optimization method in RF coil array design for SENSE imaging is described. Using this method the optimized RF coil geometries can be calculated numerically given the required SENSE imaging performance. Although this method can be applied to optimize the RF coil arrays for both 1D and 2D SENSE imaging, to demonstrate the potential applications of this method, we designed RF coil arrays for 2D SENSE imaging and compared their performance by simulation. An optimized 4-channel receive-only RF coil array designed for 2D SENSE imaging was implemented and tested to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed technique. Imaging results showed reasonable agreement with the simulations, thus the method can be applied to RF coil array designs for SENSE imaging when optimum imaging performance is desired.     

A sixteen-channel multiplexing upgrade for single channel receivers

With the increasing interest in phased arrays in magnetic resonance imaging, imaging system receivers capable of acquiring larger number of parallel signals are needed. Suggested techniques for rapid imaging propose the use of arrays with as many as 128 elements. While simply duplicating the number of receiver chains as needed is a viable technique, it quickly becomes both cumbersome and expensive.Time domain multiplexing offers an alternative solution to this problem. By using RF multiplexing switches, a single receiver can be upgraded to an array receiver capable of multi-channel data acquisition giving users array capability. Additionally, it can be used to dramatically increase acquisition capability of multiple receiver systems.This paper reports results from a multiplexing system upgrade, which converts a single channel standard clinical imaging system to a 16-channel array system. The upgrade includes both the RF multiplexing front-end and an external data acquisition system with image processing capability. Issues concerning the implementation of high channel-count multiplexers are also discussed.     

Automatic 3D scanning surface generation for microphone array acoustic imaging

This work presents a new technique for automatically generating the 3D scanning surface for acoustic imaging using microphone arrays. Acoustic images, or maps, of sound coming from spatially distributed sources, may be generated from microphone array data using algorithms such as beamforming. Traditional 2D acoustic maps can contain errors in the near-field if the object being imaged has a 3D shape. It has been shown that using the 3D surface geometry of an object as a scanning surface for beamforming can provide more accurate results. The methods used previously to generate this 3D scanning surface have either required existing CAD (Computer-Aided Design) models of the object being acoustically imaged or have required separate equipment which is generally bulky and expensive. The new method uses one or more cameras in the array, a data projector, and structured light code to automatically generate the 3D scanning surface. This has the advantage that it is inexpensive, can be incorporated as an add-onto existing microphone arrays, has short scan time, and is capable of being extended to imaging dynamic scenes. This technique is tested using beamforming and CLEAN-SC (CLEAN based on spatial Source Coherence) algorithms for a spherical array and an Underbrink multi-arm spiral array. For sound sources located about 1.2 m from the array, the mean position errors obtained are 6 mm. This is a quarter of the diameter of the mini-speakers being used as a sound sources.     

Multifocal optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy in vivo

Although ultrasound arrays have been exploited in photoacoustic imaging to improve imaging speed, ultrasound-array-based optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) has never been achieved previously to our knowledge. Here we present our development of multifocal OR-PAM using a microlens array for optical illumination and an ultrasound array for photoacoustic detection. Our system is capable of imaging hemoglobin concentration and oxygenation in individual microvessels in vivo at high speed. Compared with a single focus, multiple foci reduce the scanning load and increase the imaging speed significantly. The current multifocal system can acquire 1000 × 500 × 200 voxels at ~10 μm lateral resolution within 4 min.     

Development of a 64 channel ultrasonic high frequency linear array imaging system

In order to improve the lateral resolution and extend the field of view of a previously reported 48 element 30 MHz ultrasound linear array and 16-channel digital imaging system, the development of a 256 element 30 MHz linear array and an ultrasound imaging system with increased channel count has been undertaken. This paper reports the design and testing of a 64 channel digital imaging system which consists of an analog front-end pulser/receiver, 64 channels of Time-Gain Compensation (TGC), 64 channels of high-speed digitizer as well as a beamformer. A Personal Computer (PC) is used as the user interface to display real-time images. This system is designed as a platform for the purpose of testing the performance of high frequency linear arrays that have been developed in house. Therefore conventional approaches were taken it its implementation. Flexibility and ease of use are of primary concern whereas consideration of cost-effectiveness and novelty in design are only secondary. Even so, there are many issues at higher frequencies but do not exist at lower frequencies need to be solved. The system provides 64 channels of excitation pulsers while receiving simultaneously at a 20–120 MHz sampling rate to 12-bits. The digitized data from all channels are first fed through Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), and then stored in memories. These raw data are accessed by the beamforming processor to re-build the image or to be downloaded to the PC for further processing. The beamformer that applies delays to the echoes of each channel is implemented with the strategy that combines coarse (8.3 ns) and fine delays (2 ns). The coarse delays are integer multiples of the sampling clock rate and are achieved by controlling the write enable pin of the First-In-First-Out (FIFO) memory to obtain valid beamforming data. The fine delays are accomplished with interpolation filters. This system is capable of achieving a maximum frame rate of 50 frames per second. Wire phantom images acquired with this system show a spatial resolution of 146 μm (lateral) and 54 μm (axial). Images with excised rabbit and pig eyeball as well as mouse embryo were also acquired to demonstrate its imaging capability.     

Fabrication and evaluation of fully-sampled, two-dimensional transducer array for "Sonic Window" imaging system

A low-cost, fully-sampled, 3600 element 2D transducer array operating at 5 MHz and designed for use in a hand-held ultrasound system is described here. Four array configurations are presented - (1) array with both matching and pedestal backing layers, (2) array with a matching layer but no backing pedestal, (3) array with a backing pedestal but no matching layer, and (4) array with neither matching layer nor backing pedestal. Each array was characterized in terms of impedance measurements, pulse-echo response, and experimental beamprofile. Comparative finite element analysis simulations are also presented. Average estimated active element yield for the four arrays was 94%. The array with pedestal layer proved the most promising, providing a 26% bandwidth and a 1.7 dB improvement in sensitivity with respect to the array with neither pedestal nor matching layer. Although this bandwidth is acceptable for our specific application (C-scan imaging), reverberations within the substrate material remain a potential challenge. We are currently working to fabricate a custom PCB material to address this concern, and may also consider using a pre-compensated transmit waveform or matched digital filter approach to further reduce the effects of such reverberations.     

Contrast enhanced vascular three-dimensional ultrasound imaging

In other imaging modalities three-dimensional (3D) data displays are well established; not so in ultrasound. Due to the real-time requirements of ultrasound the time available to compute 3D displays is limited, particularly when flow data is acquired with Doppler techniques. Consequently, it is only recently that improvements in computer processing power have resulted in useful vascular 3D ultrasound scans. Many manufacturers have now implemented free-hand 3D power Doppler capabilities on their scanners. However, to obtain flow signals from smaller vessels associated e.g., with tumor neovascularity, may very well require the introduction of a microbubble based ultrasound contrast agent into the blood stream. Given the up to 30 dB enhancement of Doppler signals produced by the contrast microbubbles quite spectacular vascular 3D images are feasible. Moreover, new contrast imaging techniques, such as harmonic imaging, have now permitted 3D vascular information to be acquired and displayed in grayscale with the associated improvement in resolution. In this paper we will review different aspects of contrast enhanced vascular 3D ultrasound imaging including implementation, contrast specific techniques and in vivo imaging.     

Observation of the gradual transition from one-dimensional to two-dimensional Anderson localization

We study the gradual transition from one-dimensional (1D) to two-dimensional (2D) Anderson localization upon transformation of the dimensionality of disordered waveguide arrays. An effective transition from a 1D to a 2D system is achieved by increasing the number of rows forming the arrays. We observe that, for a given disorder level, Anderson localization becomes weaker with increasing numbers of rows-hence the effective dimension.     

Ultrasound elastomicroscopy using water jet and osmosis loading: potentials for assessment for articular cartilage

Research in elasticity imaging typically relies on 1-10 MHz ultrasound. Elasticity imaging at these frequencies can provide strain maps with a resolution in the order of millimeters, but this is not sufficient for applications to skin, articular cartilage, or other fine structures. In this paper, we introduced two methods of ultrasound elastomicroscopy using water jet and osmosis loading for imaging the elasticity of biological soft tissues with high resolutions. In the first system, the specimens were compressed using water jet compression. A water jet was used to couple a focused 20 MHz ultrasound beam into the specimen and meanwhile served as a "soft" indenter. Because there was no additional attenuation when propagating from the ultrasound transducer to the specimen, the ultrasound signal with high signal-to-noise ratio could be collected from the specimens simultaneously with compressing process. The compression was achieved by adjusting the water flow. The pressure measured inside the water pipe and that on the specimen surface was calibrated. This system was easily to apply C-scan over sample surfaces. Experiments on the phantoms showed that this water jet indentation method was reliable to map the tissue stiffness distribution. Results of 1D and 2D scanning on phantoms with different stiffness are reported. In the second system, we used osmotic pressure caused by the ion concentration change in the bathing solutions for the articular cartilage to deform them. When bovine articular cartilage specimens were immerged in solutions with different salt concentration, a 50 MHz focused ultrasound beam was used to monitor the dynamic swelling or shrinkage process. Results showed that the system could reliably map the strain distribution induced by the osmotic loading. We extract intrinsic layered material parameters of the articular cartilage using a triphasic model. In addition to biological tissues, these systems have potential applications for the assessment of bioengineered tissues, biomaterials with fine structures, or some engineering materials. Further studies are necessary to fully realize the potentials of these two new methods.     

基于声学扫描振镜的超声/光声双模态成像技术

超声/光声双模态成像技术因其同时兼具超声的高分辨率结构成像和光声的高对比度功能成像优势,极大地推动了光声成像技术的临床应用推广.传统超声/光声双模态成像技术多基于超声成像所用阵列探头同时收集光声信号,系统结构紧凑且无需图像配准,操作便捷.但该类设备使用阵列探头和多通道数据采集,使得其成本较高;且成像结果易受通道一致性差异影响.本文提出了一种基于声学扫描振镜的超声/光声双模态成像技术,该技术采用单个超声换能器结合一维声学扫描振镜进行快速声束扫描,实现超声/光声双模态成像,是一种小型化、低成本的双模态快速成像技术.本文开展了系列仿体和活体成像研究,实验结果表明:系统有效成像范围为15.6 mm,超声和光声成像B扫描速度分别为1.0 s^–1和0.1 s^–1 (光声成像速度主要受制于脉冲激光器重复频率).基于本文所提技术研究,有助于进一步推动超声/光声双模态成像技术的临床转化和普及;也为基于超声信号检测的多模态成像技术提供了一种低成本、小型化和快速声信号检测的参考方案.     

3D ultrasound guided breast biopsy system

Stereotactic X-ray mammography (SM) and ultrasound (US) guidance are commonly used techniques for breast biopsy. While SM provides 3D targeting information and US provides real-time guidance, both techniques have limitations. SM is a long and uncomfortable procedure and the US guided procedure is inherently 2D, requiring a skilled physician for both safety and accuracy. We have developed a 3D US-guided biopsy system to integrate with SM. The dual modality breast biopsy system combines the advantages of both approaches with 3D US and SM targeting, near real-time 3D and real-time 2D US guidance, breast stabilisation and a confined needle trajectory. Our goal is to be able to biopsy a larger percentage of suspicious masses using ultrasound, by clarifying ambiguous structures with mammographic imaging. Using breast phantoms, we have shown that our ultrasound guided biopsy system was capable of targeting artificial lesions that were 3.2 mm in diameter, with a 96% success rate. Through this study, we also demonstrated that our system was equivalent to current clinical practice, for an in vitro biopsy task. Metal beads in known relative positions allowed us to determine the geometry of the SM system, so that stereotactic mammography could be registered to 3D US images. The target registration error was found to be 1.6 mm. This error was dominated by positioning error in the vertical direction (perpendicular to the film surface). As an adjunct to SM, we propose that 3D US could provide more complete imaging information for target identification and real-time monitoring of needle insertion, as well as providing a means for rapid confirmation of biopsy success.     

Ultrasound tunneling through 3D phononic crystals

We report the study of ultrasound tunneling in 3D phononic crystals, consisting of fcc arrays of close-packed tungsten carbide beads in water. The transmission coefficient, phase velocity, and group velocity were measured along the [111] direction, allowing us to systematically investigate the tunneling of ultrasound at frequencies in the lowest band gap. Our experimental data are interpreted using multiple scattering theory, which provides a good explanation of our results. The effect of absorption and the difference between the tunneling of classical waves and quantum waves are discussed.     

Application of different spatial sampling patterns for sparse array transducer design

In the last few years, the efforts of many researchers have been focused on developing 3D real-time scanners. The use of 2D phased-array transducers makes it possible to steer the ultrasonic beam in all directions in the scanned volume. An unacceptably large amount of transducer channels (more than 4,000) must be used, if the conventional phased array transducers are extrapolated to the 2D case. To decrease the number of channels, sparse arrays with different aperture apodization functions in transmit and receive apertures have to be designed. The design is usually carried out in 1D, and then transferred to a 2D rectangular grid. In this paper, five different 2D array transducers have been considered and their performance was compared with respect to spatial and contrast resolution. An optimization of the element placement along the diagonals using vernier arrays is suggested. The simulation results of the ultrasound fields show a decrease in the grating-lobe level of 10 dB for the diagonally optimized 2D array transducers compared to the previously designed 2D arrays which did not consider the diagonals.     

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.     

Arbitrary shaped, liquid filled reverberators with non-resonant transducers for broadband focusing of ultrasound using Time Reversed Acoustics

The ability to generate short focused ultrasonic pulses with duration on the order of one period of carrier frequency depends on the bandwidth of the transmitter as the pulse duration is inversely proportional to the bandwidth. Conventional focusing arrays used for focusing ultrasound have limited bandwidth due to the resonant nature of the piezoelements generating ultrasound. Theoretically it is possible to build a broadband phased array composed of “non-resonant” elements: wedge-shaped or flat-concave piezotransducers, though there are numerous technical difficulties in designing arrays with hundreds of elements of complex shape. This task is much easier to realize in an alternative technique of ultrasound focusing based on the principles of Time Reversed Acoustics (TRA) because in TRA systems, effective focusing can be achieved with just a few, or even one, transducers. The goal of this study is to demonstrate the possibility of broadband focusing of ultrasonic waves using a TRA system with non-resonant transducers and to explore the factors affecting the performance of such a system. A new type of TRA reverberators, such as water-filled thin-wall plastic vessels, which can be used with the submersible piezotransducers fixed internally in the reverberator, are proposed and tested. The experiments are conducted in a water tank with the walls and bottom covered by a sound absorbing lining. A needle hydrophone mounted on a 3D positioning system is used as a beacon for the TRA focusing and then for measuring the spatial distribution of the focused ultrasound field. The bandwidth and spatial distribution of the signal focused by the TRA system using a single channel with the resonant versus non-resonant transducers have been analyzed. Two types of non-resonant transducers were tested: a flat-concave transducer with a diameter of 30 mm, and a thickness varying from 2 mm in the center to 11 mm at the edge, and a specially designed submersible transducer having an uneven shape with a diameter of about 25 mm and a thickness varying from 2 to 6 mm. It was shown that TRA focusing system using non-resonant transducer had a bandwidth at 10 dB of 500 kHz while the resonant transducer provided about 100 kHz bandwidth. Correspondingly, the extended bandwidth of the TRA focusing system, especially toward higher frequencies, provides a 50% sharper spatial distribution. Furthermore, the relative level of the background ultrasound was reduced by a factor up to 3 as more frequencies were added coherently in focus and incoherently out of focus. Advantages of water-filled reverberators made of thin-wall plastic vessels include easy manufacturing, low costs, extreme simplicity, and good acoustical matching with soft tissues, important for biomedical applications.     

Simple data acquisition method for multi-dimensional EPR spectral-spatial imaging using a combination of constant-time and projection-reconstruction modalities

A combination of the constant-time spectral-spatial imaging (CTSSI) modality and projection-reconstruction modality was tested to simplify data acquisition for multi-dimensional CW EPR spectral-spatial imaging. In this method, 3D spectral-spatial image data were obtained by simple repetition of conventional 2D CW imaging process, except that the field gradient amplitude was incremented in constant steps in each repetition. The data collection scheme was no different from the conventional CW imaging system for spectral-spatial data acquisition. No special equipment and/or rewriting of existing software were required. The data acquisition process for multi-dimensional spectral-spatial imaging is consequently simplified. There is also no “missing-angle” issue because the CTSSI modality was employed to reconstruct 2D spectral-spatial images. Extra reconstruction processes to obtain higher spatial dimensions were performed using a conventional projection-reconstruction modality. This data acquisition technique can be applied to any conventional CW EPR (spatial) imaging system for multi-dimensional spectral-spatial imaging.     

Charge transport transitions and scaling in disordered arrays of metallic dots

We examine the charge transport through disordered arrays of metallic dots using numerical simulations. We find power law scaling in the current-voltage curves for arrays containing no voids, while for void-filled arrays charge bottlenecks form and a single scaling is absent, in agreement with recent experiments. In the void-free case we also show that the scaling exponent depends on the effective dimensionality of the system. For increasing applied drives we find a transition from 2D disordered filamentary flow near threshold to a 1D smectic flow which can be identified experimentally using characteristics in the transport curves and conduction noise.