Tissue Motion and Elevational Speckle Decorrelation in Freehand 3D Ultrasound

Abstract

3D positioning is essential for quantitative volume analysis in 3D ultrasound. Particularly for freehand scanning without an external positioning device, such information must be estimated by analyzing the original 2D images prior to 3D reconstruction. Previous work on freehand 3D positioning has focused on elevational displacement estimation using speckle decorrelation for linear scans. However, the effects of other types of motion have been ignored. Given that all types of motion potentially introduce speckle decorrelation, the accuracy of the elevational displacement estimation is likely to be diminished by the presence of motions of other types. In the present study, simulations were performed to probe the effects of various motions on elevational displacement estimation. In particular, the effects of rotational motions on image correlation are investigated in detail. It is found that these motions significantly affect the estimation results and thus should be taken into account when reconstructing the 3D image. In addition, speckle variations also affect the estimation even when only elevational motion is present. Finally, full motion analysis in freehand scanning may not be possible by only using speckle correlation analysis unless speckle variations can be reduced and the correlation distribution under complex motion can be obtained.

Keywords

3D ultrasound elevational decorrelation motion analysis speckle correlation speckle tracking

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Nelson

T. R.

Pretorius

D. H.

, Three-dimensional ultrasound imaging, Ultrasound Med. Biol. 24, 1243–1270 (1998).

Light

E. D.

Davidsen

R. E.

Fiering

J. O.

, Progress in two dimensional arrays for real time volumetric imaging, Ultrasonic Imaging 20, 1–16 (1998).

Barry

C. D.

Allott

C. P.

John

N. W.

, Three-dimensional freehand ultrasound: Image reconstruction and volume analysis, Ultrasound Med. Biol. 23, 1209–1224 (1997).

Tuthill

T. A.

Krucker

J. F.

Flowlkes

J. B.

, Automated three-dimensional US frame positioning computed from elevational speckle decorrelation, Radiology 209, 575–582 (1998).

L. Y. L.

Hatfield

W. T.

Miller

S. C.

, Method and apparatus for tracking scan plane motion in free-hand three-dimensional ultrasound scanning using adaptive speckle correlation, United States Patent, 6, 012, 458 (2000).

Friemel

B. H.

Weng

Teo

, 3-dimensional compound ultrasound filed of view, United States Patent, 5, 655, 535 (1997).

, System and method for 3-d medical imaging using 2-d scan data, United States Patent, 5, 582, 173 (1996).

Friemel

B. H.

Weng

Teo

Brown

K. G.

, 3-dimensional volume by aggregating ultrasound fields of view, United States Patent, 5, 899, 861 (1999).

P. C.

Cheng

C. J.

Yeh

C. K.

, On the velocity estimation using speckle decorrelation, IEEE Trans. Ultrason. Ferroelect. Freq. Contr. 48, 1084–1091 (2001).

10.

P. C.

Chen

M. J.

, Strain compounding: a new approach for speckle reduction, IEEE Trans. Ultrason. Ferroelect. Freq. Contr. 49, 39–46 (2002).

11.

Kerr

A. T.

Hunt

J. W.

, A method for computer simulation of ultrasound Doppler color flow images — II. Simulation results, Ultrasound Med. Biol. 18, 873–879 (1992).

12.

Trahey

G. E.

Allison

J. W.

Von Ramm

O. T.

, Angle independent ultrasonic detection of blood flow, IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng., 34, 965–967 (1987).

13.

Trahey

G. E.

Smith

S. W.

Von Ramm

O. T.

, Speckle pattern correlation with lateral aperture translation: experimental results and implications for spatial compounding, IEEE Trans. Ultrason., Ferroelect. Freq. Contr., 33, 257–264 (1986).