Freehand 3D ultrasound reconstruction algorithms--a review

Three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound (US) is increasingly being introduced in the clinic, both for diagnostics and image guidance. Although dedicated 3D US probes exist, 3D US can also be acquired with the still frequently used two-dimensional (2D) US probes. Obtaining 3D volumes with 2D US probes is a two-step process. First, a positioning sensor must be attached to the probe; second, a reconstruction of a 3D volume can be performed into a regular voxel grid. Various algorithms have been used for performing 3D reconstruction based on 2D images. Up till now, a complete overview of the algorithms, the way they work and their benefits and drawbacks due to various applications has been missing. The lack of an overview is made clear by confusions about algorithm and group names in the existing literature. This article is a review aimed at explaining and categorizing the various algorithms into groups, according to algorithm implementation. The algorithms are compared based on published data and our own laboratory results. Positive and practical uses of the various algorithms for different applications are discussed, with a focus on image guidance.