Spatio-temporal Flow and Wall Shear Stress Mapping based on Incoherent Ensemble-correlation of Ultrafast Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound Images
File(s)1-s2.0-S0301562917312917-main.pdf (5.84 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Leow, C
Tang, M
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
In this study, a technique for high-frame-rate ultrasound imaging velocimetry (UIV) is extended first to provide more robust quantitative flow velocity mapping using ensemble correlation of images without coherent compounding, and second to generate spatio-temporal wall shear stress (WSS) distribution. A simulation model, which couples the ultrasound simulator with analytical flow solution, was implemented to evaluate its accuracy. It is shown that the proposed approach can reduce errors in velocity estimation by up to 10-fold in comparison with the coherent correlation approach. Mean errors (ME) of 3.2% and 8.6% were estimated under a steady flow condition, while 3.0% and 10.6% were found under a pulsatile condition for the velocity and wall shear rate (WSR) measurement, respectively. Appropriate filter parameters were selected to constrain the velocity profiles before WSR estimations and the effects of incorrect wall tracking were quantified under a controlled environment. Although accurate wall tracking is found to be critical in WSR measurement (as a 200 µm deviation from the wall may yield up to a 60% error), this can be mitigated by HFR imaging (of up to 10 kHz) with contrast agents, which allow for improved differentiation of the wall-fluid boundaries. In vitro investigations on two carotid bifurcation phantoms, normal and diseased, were conducted, and their relative differences in terms of the flow patterns and WSR distribution were demonstrated. It is shown that high-frame-rate UIV technique can be a non-invasive tool to measure quantitatively the spatio-temporal velocity and WSS distribution.
Date Issued
2017-10-13
Date Acceptance
2017-08-14
Citation
Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, 2017, 44 (1), pp.134-152
ISSN
0301-5629
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
134
End Page
152
Journal / Book Title
Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology
Volume
44
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of World
Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Grant Number
EP/M011933/1
Subjects
Contrast enhanced ultrasound
Flow measurement
Image tracking
Microbubble contrast agents
Motion effect
Ultrafast ultrasound imaging
Wall shear rate
1103 Clinical Sciences
Acoustics
Publication Status
Published