Virtual initialised ray tomography: towards contact-free realistic ultrasonic bone imaging
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Chung-Jukko, Aaron
Huthwaite, Peter
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Ultrasound tomography struggles with high-contrast and/or extended-range problems, such as site-specific in vivo bone imaging, which is crucial for assessing fracture risk. Two main obstacles arise: (a) an external region prohibits access to the region of interest (ROI), and (b) high contrast exists between the two regions. These challenges hinder existing algorithms—including bent-ray tomography (BRT). Virtual initialised ray tomography (VIRT) is proposed, which addresses these challenges through: (a) placement of virtual transducers on the ROI, facilitating (b) rapid initialisation before BRT inversion. In silico validation against BRT with and without prior information shows superior resolution and robustness, while improving computational speed. Validation against BRT directly on the ROI shows that VIRT is approaching the resolution limit. Additionally, VIRT performs well under 20 dB signal-to-noise ratio. The ability to solve high-contrast extended-range tomography problems without prior knowledge about the ROI’s interior has many implications. VIRT has the potential to unlock site-specific in vivo bone imaging for assessing fracture risk. It may also replace BRT to improve resolution, robustness and computational speed—especially where the ROI does not cover the entire imaging array.
Editor(s)
Haiat, Guillaume
Date Issued
2025-07-01
Date Acceptance
2025-06-02
Citation
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2025, 158 (1), pp.276-290
ISSN
0001-4966
Publisher
AIP
Start Page
276
End Page
290
Journal / Book Title
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
Volume
158
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2025 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/40631908
PII: 3352149
Subjects
bone ultrasound
medical imaging
Ultrasound tomography
virtual transducers
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Date Publish Online
2025-07-09