On the physics of ultrasound transmission for in-plane needle tracking in guided interventions

Objective.In ultrasound (US) guided interventions, the accurate visualization and tracking of needles is a critical challenge, particularly during in-plane insertions. An inaccurate identification and localization of needles lead to severe inadvertent complications and increased procedure times. This is due to the inherent specular reflections from the needle with directivity depending on the angle of incidence of the US beam, and the needle inclination.Approach.Though several methods have been proposed for improved needle visualization, a detailed study emphasizing the physics of specular reflections resulting from the interaction of transmitted US beam with the needle remains to be explored. In this work, we discuss the properties of specular reflections from planar and spherical wave US transmissions respectively through multi-angle plane wave (PW) and synthetic transmit aperture (STA) techniques for in-plane needle insertion angles between 15°-50°.Main Results.The qualitative and quantitative results from simulations and experiments reveal that the spherical waves enable better visualization and characterization of needles than planar wavefronts. The needle visibility in PW transmissions is severely degraded by the receive aperture weighting during image reconstruction than STA due to greater deviation in reflection directivity. It is also observed that the spherical wave characteristics starts to alter to planar characteristics due to wave divergence at large needle insertion depths.Significance.The study highlights that synergistic transmit-receive imaging schemes addressing the physical properties of reflections from the transmit wavefronts are imperative for the precise imaging of needle interfaces and hence have strong potential in elevating the quality of outcomes from US guided interventional practices.