Although several optical imaging modalities can acquire high-resolution images, the light penetration depth is limited because optical scattering occurs in a tissue, making it difficult to acquire deep-depth images. For this reason, we previously suggested and verified that ultrasound-induced optical clearing microscopy (US-OCM) can suppress optical scattering and improve the depth of light penetration. However, it is challenging to accurately predict the nucleation position of a bubble cloud due to randomly generated within the depth of focus. In this study, we proposed a combined acoustic and optical cavitation-induced gas bubbles method that can generate a bubble cloud at an accurately predicted location, and demonstrate image performance through various experiments.
While laser can acquire ultra-high-resolution image at desired area, the penetration depth of light is limited due to tissue scattering, making it difficult to reach deep depths. For this, we previously proposed a technique that uses ultrasonic energy to temporarily generate bubbles in the ultrasonic path to suppress scattering and increase the penetration depth. However, it is hard to accurately create bubbles in a preferred position due to randomly generated within the depth of focus. In this study, we introduce a Laser-induced bubble generation technique combined with ultrasound that can make bubbles at precise locations while maintaining high light transmittance.
KEYWORDS: Signal detection, Clouds, Tissue optics, Monte Carlo methods, Luminescence, Light scattering, Ultrasonography, Tissues, Spatial resolution, Signal generators
We previously demonstrated that temporarily induced bubbles in ultrasound energy can be used to increase the penetration of light into biological tissue by acting as an optical scattering agent in the biological tissue. In this paper, we study the effect of light fluence on the bubble concentration in the bubble cloud region using monte carlo simulation and tissue mimicking phantom. As a result, we found that optical scattering increased and the fluctuation in the light intensity became stronger as the bubble concentration decrease.
Photothermal therapy (PTT) is conducted by converting laser radiation into thermal energy due to the absorption of the photons in tissue. PTT has attracted much attention as a selective and non-invasive treatment. However, the difficulty of treating deep-lying lesions, which is due to optical scattering in biological tissues, is a major limitation of PTT. To alleviate this problem, we previously proposed dual thermal therapy (DTT) in which ultrasound and laser energies are transmitted simultaneously into the target lesion to add local temperatures increased by both energies. In DTT, the focus of ultrasound is located in the target lesion. It was demonstrated that DTT is capable of increasing treatment depth, compared to PTT. In this paper, we propose a method of further increasing treatment depth in DTT. Unlike the conventional DTT, the proposed method finds and uses an optimal ultrasound focal point to maximize the treatment depth of DTT; the focus of ultrasound is placed in the posterior portion of the target lesion during DTT and the focal depth is determined based on the results of ultrasound field simulation. By doing so, it is possible to avoid high optical scattering of the coagulation produced in the anterior segment of the target lesion. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated using a tissue-mimicking phantom. The experimental results showed that the coagulation area produced by the proposed method had a maximum size of 4 mm in the depth direction, whereas the size was about 2 mm in the case of the conventional DTT.
In medical ultrasound imaging, high-performance beamforming is important to enhance spatial and contrast resolutions. A modern receive dynamic beamfomer uses a constant sound speed that is typically assumed to 1540 m/s in generating receive focusing delays [1], [2]. However, this assumption leads to degradation of spatial and contrast resolutions particularly when imaging obese patients or breast since the sound speed is significantly lower than the assumed sound speed [3]; the true sound speed in the fatty tissue is around 1450 m/s. In our previous study, it was demonstrated that the modified nonlinear anisotropic diffusion is capable of determining an optimal sound speed and the proposed method is a useful tool to improve ultrasound image quality [4], [5]. In the previous study, however, we utilized at least 21 iterations to find an optimal sound speed, which may not be viable for real-time applications. In this paper, we demonstrates that the number of iterations can be dramatically reduced using the GSS(golden section search) method with a minimal error. To evaluate performances of the proposed method, in vitro experiments were conducted with a tissue mimicking phantom. To emulate a heterogeneous medium, the phantom was immersed in the water. From the experiments, the number of iterations was reduced from 21 to 7 with GSS method and the maximum error of the lateral resolution between direct and GSS was less than 1%. These results indicate that the proposed method can be implemented in real time to improve the image quality in the medical ultrasound imaging.
KEYWORDS: Zoom lenses, Ultrasonography, Data conversion, Image transmission, In vivo imaging, Image quality, Transducers, Demodulation, Neodymium, Imaging systems
Conventional ultrasound imaging based on scan conversion suffers from blurring artifacts caused by interpolation[1]. Especially, when zooming an image for enlarging lesions during scan conversion (i.e., read-zoom), this blurring artifact becomes severe. To reduce blurring artifacts, a write-zoom method was previously proposed. However, it still presents blurring artifacts and lowers the frame rate due to increased line density. In this paper, a new high definition zoom method based on compounded direct pixel beamforming (CDPB) capable enhancing the detail and boundary of lesions is presented. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated with phantom and in vivo experiments by measuring the information entropy contrast (IEC). The radio-frequency channel data were acquired by using a 3.5-MHz convex array transducer with the SonixTouch research platform (Ultrasonix Medical Corp., Vancouver, BC, Canada). The enlarged images using a new high-definition zoom method based on CDPB (i.e., HDZ-CDPB) with 128 transmit scanlines were reconstructed along with read- and write zoom (RZ and WZ) images based on scan conversion by using 128 and 256 transmit scanlines, respectively. From the phantom experiments, the IEC value with the proposed HDZCDPB method was enhanced by maximally 42% and 29% compared to the RZ and WZ methods, respectively. This preliminary results indicate that the proposed HDZ-CDPB method would be useful for generating a high definition ultrasound zoom image with improved image quality compared to the conventional scan conversion based methods (i.e., RZ and WZ) while achieving the high frame rate.
In medical ultrasound imaging, dynamic receive beamforming has been used for improving signal-to-noise ratio
(SNR) and spatial resolution. For low-cost portable ultrasound imaging systems, a fractional filter-based receive
beamforming (FFRB) method was previously proposed to reduce the hardware complexity compared to conventional
interpolation filter-based receive beamforming methods (IFRB). While this new beamforming method substantially
reduces the hardware complexity, it yields the nonlinear phase response for high frequencies due to the limited length of
fractional filter coefficients, leading to the bias on flow estimation in ultrasound color Doppler imaging. In this paper, to
evaluate the FFRB method for ultrasound color Doppler imaging, the Field II simulation and string phantom experiments
were conducted. In Field II simulation, the radio-frequency (RF) data were generated by assuming a 7.5-MHz linear
array probe with the transmit frequency of 6 MHz, the ensemble size of 8, and the sampling frequencies of 20 MHz. In
string phantom experiments, the RF channel data were obtained with a commercial SonixTouch ultrasound scanner
equipped with a research package (Ultrasonix Corp., Vancouver, BC, Canada) and a 5-MHz linear array connected to a
SonixDAQ parallel system. The ensemble size and the sampling frequency were set to 10 and 20 MHz, respectively. For
the Field II simulation and string phantom experiments, only 1.2% and 2.3 % in color Doppler estimation error ratio was
observed with mean and standard deviation along the lateral direction. This result indicates that the proposed FFRB
method could be utilized for a low-cost ultrasound color Doppler imaging system with lowered hardware complexity and
minimized phase errors.
In photoacoustic imaging, an adaptive beamforming method with coherence factor (ABF-CF) was previously
introduced for improving spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) over a conventional delay-and-sum
beamforming method (DAS). However, the ABF-CF method is not suitable for being used in practical diagnosis since it
is overly-sensitive for off-axis interferences and noises. In this paper, a new adaptive beamforming method with
spatially-smoothed coherence factor (ABF-SSCF) is presented for ultrasound and photoacoustic combined imaging to
enhance the contrast and spatial resolution while preserving the target information by applying a spatial-smoothing
technique into CF coefficients from multiple sub-arrays within an array probe. To evaluate the ABF-SSCF method,
computer simulation and ex vivo experiments were conducted. For the computer simulation, 64-channel radio-frequency
(RF) data with one channel amplitude-varying off-axis interference was generated. Also, The ex vivo experiments were
conducted where 128-channel pre-beamformed RF data were captured from a microcalcification-contained breast core
specimen with a commercial ultrasound system equipped with a research package by using a 7-MHz linear array probe
(SonixTouch, Ultrasonix Corp., BC, Canada) and an Nd:Yag laser excitation system (Surelite III-10 and Surelite OPO
Plus, Continuum Inc., Santa Clara, CA, USA). From the simulation and ex vivo experiments, the proposed ABF-SSCF
method provides better contrast and spatial resolutions comparable than the DAS method. Also, compared to the ABFCF
method, image information is clearly presented without being degraded by off-axis interferences. These results
indicate that the proposed ABF-SSCF method can simultaneously enhance the image quality and efficacy of the ABF
method for ultrasound and photoacoustic combined imaging.
KEYWORDS: Ultrasonography, Data conversion, Data acquisition, Raster graphics, Tissues, Medical imaging, Imaging systems, Signal processing, Transducers, Chemical elements
In medical ultrasound imaging, scan conversion is used to geometrically transform polar coordinate ultrasound data
into Cartesian raster data for display. In scan conversion, Moiré undersampling artifacts can be avoided by using
various interpolation techniques such as nearest neighbor and bilinear. However, this interpolation-based scan
conversion introduces blurring of fine details in ultrasound images. In this paper, a new beamforming technique, named
compounded direct pixel beamforming (CDPB), is proposed to remove blurring artifacts from scan conversion. In
CDPB, receive focusing is performed directly on each display pixel in Cartesian coordinates with raw radio-frequency
(RF) data from two adjacent transmit firings so that artifacts from scan conversion can be substantially removed. To
evaluate the proposed CDPB method, 64-channel pre-beamformed RF data were captured by a commercial ultrasound
machine (SA-9900, Medison Corp., Seoul, Korea) from a tissue mimicking phantom (ATS Laboratories, Bridgeport, CT,
USA). To quantify the performance of the proposed method, the information entropy contrast (IEC) value was
measured. From the experiments, the proposed method provided IEC improvement by 2.8 over the conventional scan
conversion method. These results indicate that the proposed new beamforming method could be used for enhancing the
image quality in medical ultrasound imaging.
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