Wide Field-of-View Ultrafast Curved Array Imaging Using Diverging Waves.

Area of Science:

• Ultrasound physics and engineering
• Medical imaging technologies
• Biomedical signal processing

Background:

• Ultrafast ultrasound imaging enables high frame rate applications like shear wave elastography and microvascular imaging.
• Curved array transducers face challenges in element directivity and limited field-of-view (FOV) for ultrafast imaging.
• Existing methods struggle to achieve wide FOV with high spatiotemporal resolution in abdominal ultrasound.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel wide FOV ultrafast curved array imaging method for high frame rate abdominal ultrasound.
• To develop a theoretical model for diverging wave transmissions from a virtual point source.
• To evaluate the proposed method's performance in terms of image quality and FOV extension.

Main Methods:

• A theoretical model for diverging wave solutions based on a virtual point source was proposed.
• An integrated model for plane wave and diverging wave imaging was derived.
• The method was validated using simulations, phantom studies, and in vivo abdominal microvascular imaging.

Main Results:

• The proposed method demonstrated an extended effective FOV and improved image quality metrics.
• In vivo microvascular imaging showed a higher signal-to-clutter ratio (6.35 dB vs. 4.26 dB) compared to plane wave imaging.
• The technique achieved high spatiotemporal resolution for abdominal ultrasound applications.

Conclusions:

• The developed ultrafast curved array imaging technique effectively extends the FOV.
• Diverging wave excitation offers superior microvascular imaging performance in abdominal applications.
• This method holds significant potential for advancing high frame rate abdominal ultrasound diagnostics.