Ultrafast 3-D Ultrasound Imaging Using Row-Column Array-Specific Frame-Multiply-and-Sum Beamforming.

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Ultrasound Technology
• Signal Processing

Background:

• Row-column arrays offer reduced channel count for 3-D ultrafast ultrasound imaging.
• Row-column arrays suffer from significant artifacts, primarily high sidelobes, hindering image quality, especially at high frame rates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and evaluate a novel beamforming technique, row-column-specific frame multiply and sum (RC-FMAS), to mitigate artifacts in row-column array 3-D ultrasound imaging.
• To enhance image quality and contrast-to-noise ratio in high frame rate 3-D ultrasound imaging.

Main Methods:

• Developed RC-FMAS, a row-column-specific beamforming technique for orthogonal plane-wave transmissions.
• Generated volumetric images using row or column transmissions of 3-D plane waves.
• Applied a voxelwise geometric mean of beamformed images from row and column pairs before compounding to reduce artifacts.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated significant reduction in sidelobe levels, achieving over 16-dB improvement in sidelobe to main-lobe energy ratio.
• Showcased improved contrast ratio (~10 dB increase) and generalized contrast-to-noise ratio (158% increase) compared to traditional delay and sum methods.
• Validated effectiveness through in silico and in vitro studies, confirming reduced incoherent imaging artifacts.

Conclusions:

• RC-FMAS effectively reduces incoherent imaging artifacts in row-column array 3-D ultrasound.
• The proposed technique enables higher quality 3-D imaging with maintained high frame rate capabilities.
• RC-FMAS offers a promising solution for artifact reduction in advanced ultrasound imaging systems.