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A Methodological Approach to Non-invasive Assessments of Vascular Function and Morphology
Published on: February 7, 2015
Nonlinear processing in B-mode ultrasound affects carotid diameter assessment
Alessandro C Rossi1, Peter J Brands, Arnold P G Hoeks
1ESAOTE Europe BV, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology
|February 3, 2009
Summary
Nonlinear processing in ultrasound imaging significantly impacts common carotid artery (CCA) diameter measurements. The sustain attack filter (SAF) provides more accurate and robust results than the derivative approach (DER) when dealing with signal nonlinearities.
Area of Science:
- Medical Imaging
- Biomedical Engineering
- Cardiovascular Ultrasound
Background:
- Noninvasive ultrasound diameter assessment of the common carotid artery (CCA) is crucial for evaluating arterial properties and monitoring patient treatment.
- Ultrasound image processing involves nonlinear steps like logarithmic compression and saturation, which can affect visualization and measurement accuracy.
- Understanding the impact of these nonlinearities is essential for reliable CCA diameter estimation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effect of signal nonlinearities (logarithmic compression and saturation) on CCA diameter measurements using noninvasive B-mode ultrasound.
- To compare the performance of two edge detection methods, the sustain attack filter (SAF) and a derivative approach (DER), under these nonlinear conditions.
Main Methods:
- Acquired radiofrequency (RF) signals from 14 healthy subjects without saturation.
- Applied off-line envelope detection, logarithmic compression, and varying degrees of signal saturation.
- Used automatic edge detectors (SAF and DER) to outline artery walls frame-by-frame for CCA diameter estimation.
Main Results:
- SAF-derived diameter measurements were unaffected by logarithmic compression, while DER showed approximately 10% differences.
- Signal saturation impacted DER more significantly than SAF, leading to greater variations in diameter estimates.
- SAF demonstrated more precise and robust CCA diameter estimates compared to DER.
Conclusions:
- Nonlinear signal processing, including logarithmic compression and saturation, has a relevant effect on the quality of noninvasive ultrasound CCA diameter measurements.
- The SAF edge detector is more suitable for integration into vascular ultrasound image segmentation algorithms due to its robustness against nonlinearities.
- SAF offers superior precision and reliability for CCA diameter estimation in the presence of signal nonlinearities compared to DER.
