Ultrasound Contrast Plane Wave Imaging Based on Bubble Wavelet Transform: In Vitro and In Vivo Validations

The aim of the study described here was to develop an ultrasound contrast plane wave imaging (PWI) method based on pulse-inversion bubble wavelet transform imaging (PIWI) to improve the contrast-to-tissue ratio of contrast images. A pair of inverted "bubble wavelets" with plane waves was constructed according to the modified Herring equation. The original echoes were replaced by the maximum wavelet correlation coefficients obtained from bubble wavelet correlation analysis. The echoes were then summed to distinguish microbubbles from tissues. In in vivo experiments on rabbit kidney, PIWI improved the contrast-to-tissue ratio of contrast images up to 4.5 ± 1.5 dB, compared with that obtained in B-mode (p < 0.05), through use of a pair of inverted plane waves. The disruption rate and infusion time of microbubbles in PIWI-based PWI were then quantified using two perfusion parameters, area under the curve and half transmit time estimated from time-intensity curves, respectively. After time-intensity curves were denoised by detrended fluctuation analysis, the average area under the curve and half transit time of PIWI-based PWI were 55.94% (p < 0.05) and 20.51% (p < 0.05) higher than those of conventional focused imaging, respectively. Because of its high contrast-to-tissue ratio and low disruption of microbubbles, PIWI-based PWI has a long infusion time and is therefore beneficial for transient monitoring and perfusion assessment of microbubbles circulating in vessels.