ENHANCING LATERAL CONTRAST USING MULTI-PERSPECTIVE ULTRASOUND IMAGING OF ABDOMINAL AORTAS

Vascular ultrasound imaging is inherently hampered by low lateral resolution and contrast. Steering of the ultrasound beams can be used to overcome these limitations in superficial artery imaging because the aperture-to-depth ratio is relatively high. However, in arteries located at larger depths, the steered beams do not overlap for larger steering angles. In this study, the ultrasound probe is physically translated over the abdomen to create large angles between acquisitions, while maintaining overlap on the abdominal aorta. In one phantom setup and 11 volunteers, 2-D cross-sectional multi-perspective ultrasound images of the abdominal aorta were acquired using seven angles between -45 degrees and +45 degrees. Automatic registration of the recorded images was performed by automatic feature detection of the aorta and spine. This automatic detection was successful in 62 out of 77 image sets. Compounded multi-perspective images showed an increase of contrast-to-noise ratios from 0.6 +/- 0.1 to 1.2 +/- 0.2 over the entire heart cycle in volunteers. (E-mail: n.j.petterson@tue.nl) (c) 2020 The Author (s). Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology.

Automated summary

Vascular ultrasound imaging faces challenges of low lateral resolution and contrast, but can be improved through steering of ultrasound beams, as demonstrated in this study. Utilizing automatic feature detection for image registration, compounded multi-perspective ultrasound images showed enhanced contrast-to-noise ratios throughout the heart cycle in volunteers.