Fast acoustic wave sparsely activated localization microscopy (fast-AWSALM): ultrasound super-resolution using plane-wave activation of nanodroplets
File(s)08673629.pdf (1.46 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Localization-based ultrasound super-resolution imaging using microbubble contrast agents and phase-change nano-droplets has been developed to visualize microvascular structures beyond the diffraction limit. However, the long data acquisition time makes the clinical translation more challenging. In this study, fast acoustic wave sparsely activated localization microscopy (fast-AWSALM) was developed to achieve super-resolved frames with sub-second temporal resolution, by using low-boiling-point octafluoropropane nanodroplets and high frame rate plane waves for activation, destruction, as well as imaging. Fast-AWSALM was demonstrated on an in vitro microvascular phantom to super-resolve structures that could not be resolved by conventional B-mode imaging. The effects of the temperature and mechanical index on fast-AWSALM was investigated. Experimental results show that sub-wavelength micro-structures as small as 190 lm were resolvable in 200 ms with plane-wave transmission at a center frequency of 3.5 MHz and a pulse repetition frequency of 5000 Hz. This is about a 3.5 fold reduction in point spread function full-width-half-maximum compared to that measured in conventional B-mode, and two orders of magnitude faster than the recently reported AWSALM under a non-flow/very slow flow situations and other localization based methods. Just as in AWSALM, fast-AWSALM does not require flow, as is required by current microbubble based ultrasound super resolution techniques. In conclusion, this study shows the promise of fast-AWSALM, a super-resolution ultrasound technique using nanodroplets, which can generate super-resolution images in milli-seconds and does not require flow.
Date Issued
2019-06
Date Acceptance
2019-03-15
Citation
IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control, 2019, 66 (6), pp.1039-1046
ISSN
0885-3010
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Start Page
1039
End Page
1046
Journal / Book Title
IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control
Volume
66
Issue
6
Copyright Statement
© 2019 IEEE. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. For more information, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Sponsor
Cancer Research UK
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Identifier
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8673629
Grant Number
22353
EP/N015487/1
Subjects
Science & Technology
Technology
Acoustics
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Engineering
Acoustic droplet vaporization
octafluoropropane (OFP) nanodroplet
super-localization
super-resolution imaging
ultrafast
DROPLET VAPORIZATION
IN-VIVO
Acoustics
02 Physical Sciences
09 Engineering
Publication Status
Published online
Date Publish Online
2019-03-25