Poisson statistical model of ultrasound super-resolution imaging acquisition time
File(s)clean_file_for_Xplore_Poisson.pdf (769.75 KB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
A number of acoustic super-resolution techniques have recently been developed to visualize microvascular structure and flow beyond the diffraction limit. A crucial aspect of all ultrasound (US) super-resolution (SR) methods using single microbubble localization is time-efficient detection of individual bubble signals. Due to the need for bubbles to circulate through the vasculature during acquisition, slow flows associated with the microcirculation limit the minimum acquisition time needed to obtain adequate spatial information. Here, a model is developed to investigate the combined effects of imaging parameters, bubble signal density, and vascular flow on SR image acquisition time. We find that the estimated minimum time needed for SR increases for slower blood velocities and greater resolution improvement. To improve SR from a resolution of λ/10 to λ/20 while imaging the microvasculature structure modeled here, the estimated minimum acquisition time increases by a factor of 14. The maximum useful imaging frame rate to provide new spatial information in each image is set by the bubble velocity at low blood flows (<;150 mm/s for a depth of 5 cm) and by the acoustic wave velocity at higher bubble velocities. Furthermore, the image acquisition procedure, transmit frequency, localization precision, and desired super-resolved image contrast together determine the optimal acquisition time achievable for fixed flow velocity. Exploring the effects of both system parameters and details of the target vasculature can allow a better choice of acquisition settings and provide improved understanding of the completeness of SR information.
Date Issued
2019-07-01
Date Acceptance
2019-04-29
Citation
IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control, 2019, 66 (7), pp.1246-1254
ISSN
0885-3010
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Start Page
1246
End Page
1254
Journal / Book Title
IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control
Volume
66
Issue
7
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000475335500008&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Grant Number
EP/N015487/1
Subjects
Science & Technology
Technology
Acoustics
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Engineering
Biomedical imaging
microbubbles
microvasculature
Poisson statistics
resolution
ultrasonic imaging
ultrasound (US)
PERIPHERAL ARTERIAL-DISEASE
TUMOR ANGIOGENESIS
QUANTIFICATION
MICROBUBBLES
FLOW
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2019-05-17