Frequency-Domain Decoding of Cascaded Dual-Polarity Waves for Ultrafast Ultrasound Imaging

Ultrafast plane-wave (PW) ultrasound imaging is a versatile tool that has become increasingly relevant for blood flow imaging using speckle tracking but suffers from a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Cascaded dual-polarity wave (CDW) imaging can improve the SNR by transmitting pulse trains, which are subsequently decoded to recover the imaging resolution. However, the current decoding method (in the time domain) requires a set of two acquisitions, which introduces motion artifacts that result in incorrect speckle tracking at high flow velocities. Here, we evaluate an inverse filtering approach that uses frequency-domain decoding to decode acquisitions independently. Experiments using a disk phantom show that frequency-domain decoding of a four-pulse train achieves an SNR gain of up to 4.2 dB, versus 5.9 dB for conventional decoding. The benefit of frequency-domain decoding for flow quantification is assessed through experiments performed with a rotating disk phantom and a parabolic flow, and through matching linear simulations. Both CDW methods improve the tracking accuracy compared to single PW imaging. Time-domain decoding outperforms frequency-domain decoding in low SNR conditions and low velocities (≤ 0.25 m/s), as a result of the higher SNR gain. In contrast, frequency-domain decoding outperforms time-domain decoding for high peak velocities in imaging of the rotating disk (1 m/s) and of the parabolic flow (2 m/s), when significant scatterer motion between acquisitions causes imperfect time-domain decoding. Its ability to decode individual acquisitions makes the used frequency-domain decoding of CDW (F-CDW) a promising approach to improve the SNR and thereby the accuracy of flow quantification at high velocities.