Beamforming methods for large aperture imaging Journal Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Maintaining image quality at large tissue depths remains a clinically significant and unmet challenge for ultrasonic scanners. For tissue structures beyond 10 cm, commonly encountered in obstetric and abdominal scans, diffraction and propagation through tissue can limit azimuthal resolution to be larger than 5 mm and elevation resolution can exceed a few centimeters, making the evaluation of sub-centimeter fetal anatomical features or renal or hepatic lesions very difficult. We describe simulation and ex vivo human tissue studies which evaluate the image quality achievable with large aperture arrays and with associated beamforming methods. We imaged through human abdominal tissue layers and synthetically formed very large coherent apertures (2 cm X 10 cm) apertures. We also performed matched simulations using Visible Human Project-derived tissue models and full-wave simulation code. Using both datasets, we assessed : 1) the image quality improvements attainable with large arrays, 2) the factors degrading the image quality of deep-lying tissues, and 3) the beamforming methods best suited for large array imaging of deep tissues. Our results indicate that large improvements in resolution are obtainable for deep-lying tissues when imaging with large arrays. The major source of tissue-induced image degradation was observed to be clutter due to reverberation and beamforming limitations, rather than phase errors. Coherence-based beamforming methods were seen to be especially applicable in large array imaging.

publication date

  • May 1, 2017

has restriction

  • closed

Date in CU Experts

  • December 11, 2020 10:13 AM

Full Author List

  • Trahey G; Bottenus N; Pinton G

author count

  • 3

Other Profiles

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0001-4966

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1520-8524

Additional Document Info

start page

  • 3610

end page

  • 3611

volume

  • 141

issue

  • 5_Supplement