Improving the translation of super resolution ultrasound using projection imaging and microbubbles
File(s)
Author(s)
Wang, Bingxue
Type
Thesis or dissertation
Abstract
Visualizing the microvasculature can aid the diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring of diseases with aberrant blood vessel proliferation or cardiovascular conditions. Super-resolution ultra- sound (SRUS) imaging has been demonstrated to reveal microvascular structures and flow with sub-diffraction resolution in deep tissues by identifying spatially separated ultrasonic contrast agents (UCA).
However, the clinical translation of this technology is hindered by various issues including the limited view of conventional 2D US imaging, the expensive equipment and computational cost of 3D US imaging, as well as the low detection efficiency of UCA.
The research was first focused on developing new imaging methods. A projection SRUS imag- ing approach was proposed, demonstrating the ability to expand the field of view to a level comparable to 3D SRUS imaging while maintaining the hardware and computing costs equal to the 2D SRUS imaging level, using the proposed new type of probe. The proposed approach was evaluated in simulation, in vitro, and in vivo. Results indicate that the proposed approach can visualize microvessels in a similar 3D volume as a fully 3D approach but with over an order of magnitude less transducer complexity and computational cost. Following that, an extension of this projection approach was proposed, using a revised design of the probe. The simulation, in vitro, and in vivo results show that improved imaging performance can be achieved with a minor cost increment.
Next, this study explored the use of a new type of contrast agent in SRUS. The performance of conventional commercialized polydispersed microbubbles versus recently developed monodis- persed microbubbles was compared in 2D and 3D SRUS. Our initial results show that this new type of monodispersed contrast agent used in this study did not provide a significant advantage over existing ones in improving the UCA detection efficiency.
However, the clinical translation of this technology is hindered by various issues including the limited view of conventional 2D US imaging, the expensive equipment and computational cost of 3D US imaging, as well as the low detection efficiency of UCA.
The research was first focused on developing new imaging methods. A projection SRUS imag- ing approach was proposed, demonstrating the ability to expand the field of view to a level comparable to 3D SRUS imaging while maintaining the hardware and computing costs equal to the 2D SRUS imaging level, using the proposed new type of probe. The proposed approach was evaluated in simulation, in vitro, and in vivo. Results indicate that the proposed approach can visualize microvessels in a similar 3D volume as a fully 3D approach but with over an order of magnitude less transducer complexity and computational cost. Following that, an extension of this projection approach was proposed, using a revised design of the probe. The simulation, in vitro, and in vivo results show that improved imaging performance can be achieved with a minor cost increment.
Next, this study explored the use of a new type of contrast agent in SRUS. The performance of conventional commercialized polydispersed microbubbles versus recently developed monodis- persed microbubbles was compared in 2D and 3D SRUS. Our initial results show that this new type of monodispersed contrast agent used in this study did not provide a significant advantage over existing ones in improving the UCA detection efficiency.
Version
Open Access
Date Issued
2024-01-04
Date Awarded
2024-10-01
Copyright Statement
Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial Licence
License URL
Advisor
Tang, Meng-Xing
Publisher Department
Bioengineering
Publisher Institution
Imperial College London
Qualification Level
Doctoral
Qualification Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)