Windowed Radon Transform for Robust Speed-of-Sound Imaging With Pulse-Echo Ultrasound.

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Biomedical Ultrasound
• Acoustic Characterization

Background:

• Estimating tissue speed of sound with pulse-echo ultrasound is crucial for medical diagnostics, particularly for fatty liver disease.
• Current methods using restricted apertures for beamforming limit the accuracy of speed of sound (SoS) mapping.
• Aperture limitations negatively impact phase-shift estimations and the overall robustness of SoS reconstruction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an improved method for estimating local phase shifts from full-aperture ultrasound images.
• To enhance the accuracy and stability of speed of sound (SoS) mapping in biological tissues.
• To facilitate the deployment of SoS estimation techniques on portable ultrasound devices.

Main Methods:

• A novel method employing the Radon transform of image patches to estimate local phase shifts.
• Utilizing full-aperture images, overcoming limitations of restricted transmit and receive apertures.
• Validation on simulated, phantom, and in-vivo liver data, with comparison to a state-of-the-art technique.

Main Results:

• The proposed Radon transform-based method demonstrates enhanced stability against beamforming SoS variations.
• The technique shows improved performance with a reduced number of insonifications.
• Accurate speed of sound maps were reconstructed from full-aperture data.

Conclusions:

• The Radon transform approach offers a more robust and accurate method for speed of sound estimation in ultrasound imaging.
• Reduced insonification requirements facilitate the integration of advanced SoS estimation into portable ultrasound systems.
• This advancement holds promise for improved non-invasive diagnosis of liver conditions and other ultrasound applications.