Minimum Variance Combined With Modified Delay Multiply-and-Sum Beamforming for Plane-Wave Compounding

Area of Science:

• Ultrasound Imaging
• Medical Imaging Technology
• Signal Processing

Background:

• Plane-wave compounding is crucial for ultrafast ultrasound imaging.
• Traditional methods have inherent image quality limitations due to data independence.
• Adaptive beamformers offer a solution to improve image quality in compounding.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate a novel adaptive beamformer for 2-D ultrasound data from plane-wave transmissions.
• To enhance image resolution and contrast in ultrafast ultrasound imaging.
• To improve lesion detection capabilities.

Main Methods:

• Implemented minimum variance (MV) weights on backscattered echoes.
• Utilized a modified delay multiply-and-sum (DMAS) beamformer for coherent compounding.
• Evaluated performance against conventional coherent compounding and other adaptive methods.

Main Results:

• The proposed MV-DMAS scheme significantly improved image resolution and contrast.
• Achieved at least 20.9% enhancement in sidelobe reduction compared to existing MV-based methods.
• In vivo studies demonstrated an improved generalized contrast-to-noise ratio (GCNR).

Conclusions:

• The MV-DMAS beamformer offers superior performance for ultrafast ultrasound imaging.
• The method provides enhanced image quality and better lesion detectability.
• This adaptive beamforming technique represents a significant advancement in ultrasound imaging.