Noise Equalization for Ultrafast Plane Wave Microvessel Imaging

IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2017 Nov;64(11):1776-1781. doi: 10.1109/TUFFC.2017.2748387. Epub 2017 Sep 1.

Abstract

Ultrafast plane wave microvessel imaging significantly improves ultrasound Doppler sensitivity by increasing the number of Doppler ensembles that can be collected within a short period of time. The rich spatiotemporal plane wave data also enable more robust clutter filtering based on singular value decomposition. However, due to the lack of transmit focusing, plane wave microvessel imaging is very susceptible to noise. This paper was designed to: 1) study the relationship between ultrasound system noise (primarily time gain compensation induced) and microvessel blood flow signal and 2) propose an adaptive and computationally cost-effective noise equalization method that is independent of hardware or software imaging settings to improve microvessel image quality.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Brain / blood supply
  • Brain / diagnostic imaging
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Kidney / blood supply
  • Kidney / diagnostic imaging
  • Liver / blood supply
  • Liver / diagnostic imaging
  • Microvessels / diagnostic imaging*
  • Phantoms, Imaging
  • Rabbits
  • Signal-To-Noise Ratio
  • Swine
  • Ultrasonography, Doppler / methods*