TY - JOUR
T1 - Comprehensive Comparison of Image Quality Aspects Between Conventional and Plane-Wave Imaging Methods on a Commercial Scanner
AU - Hendriks, Gijs A.G.M.
AU - Weijers, Gert
AU - Chen, Chuan
AU - Hertel, Madeleine
AU - Lee, Chi Yin
AU - Dueppenbecker, Peter M.
AU - Radicke, Marcus
AU - Milkowski, Andy
AU - Hansen, Hendrik H.G.
AU - De Korte, Chris L.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by Siemens Healthineers GmbH, Forchheim, Germany.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 IEEE.
PY - 2022/6/1
Y1 - 2022/6/1
N2 - Coherent plane-wave compound imaging (CPWCI) is used as alternative for conventional focused imaging (CFI) to increase frame rates linearly with the ratio number of imaging lines to steering angles. In this study, the image quality was compared between CPWCI and CFI, and the effect of steering angles (range and number) and beamforming strategies was evaluated in CPWCI. In automated breast volume scanners (ABVSs), which suffer from reduced volume rates, CPWCI might be an excellent candidate to replace CFI. Therefore, the image quality of CFI currently in ABVS and CPWCI was also compared in an in vivo breast lesion. Images were obtained by a Siemens Sequoia ultrasound system, and two transducers (14L5 and 10L4) in a CIRS multipurpose phantom (040GSE) and a breast lesion. Phantom results showed that contrast sensitivity and resolution, axial resolution, and generalized contrast-to-noise ratio (gCNR; imaging depths <45 mm) were similar for most imaging sequences. CNR (imaging depths ≥45 mm), penetration, and lateral resolution were significantly improved for CPWCI (15 angles) compared to CFI for both transducers. In CPWCI, certain combinations of steering angles and beamforming methods yielded improved gCNR (small angles and delay-and-sum) or lateral resolution (large angles and Lu's-fk). Image quality seemed similar between CPWCI and CFI (three angles incoherent compounded as in ABVS) by visual inspection of the in vivo breast lesion images.
AB - Coherent plane-wave compound imaging (CPWCI) is used as alternative for conventional focused imaging (CFI) to increase frame rates linearly with the ratio number of imaging lines to steering angles. In this study, the image quality was compared between CPWCI and CFI, and the effect of steering angles (range and number) and beamforming strategies was evaluated in CPWCI. In automated breast volume scanners (ABVSs), which suffer from reduced volume rates, CPWCI might be an excellent candidate to replace CFI. Therefore, the image quality of CFI currently in ABVS and CPWCI was also compared in an in vivo breast lesion. Images were obtained by a Siemens Sequoia ultrasound system, and two transducers (14L5 and 10L4) in a CIRS multipurpose phantom (040GSE) and a breast lesion. Phantom results showed that contrast sensitivity and resolution, axial resolution, and generalized contrast-to-noise ratio (gCNR; imaging depths <45 mm) were similar for most imaging sequences. CNR (imaging depths ≥45 mm), penetration, and lateral resolution were significantly improved for CPWCI (15 angles) compared to CFI for both transducers. In CPWCI, certain combinations of steering angles and beamforming methods yielded improved gCNR (small angles and delay-and-sum) or lateral resolution (large angles and Lu's-fk). Image quality seemed similar between CPWCI and CFI (three angles incoherent compounded as in ABVS) by visual inspection of the in vivo breast lesion images.
KW - Beamformer
KW - breast imaging
KW - coherent compounding
KW - conventional imaging
KW - delay-and-sum (DAS)
KW - plane-wave imaging (PWI)
KW - ultrasound (US) imaging
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85128625561&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/TUFFC.2022.3165632
DO - 10.1109/TUFFC.2022.3165632
M3 - Article
C2 - 35404814
AN - SCOPUS:85128625561
SN - 0885-3010
VL - 69
SP - 2039
EP - 2049
JO - IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control
JF - IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control
IS - 6
ER -