Paper
29 March 2013 Real-time sound speed correction using golden section search to enhance ultrasound imaging quality
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
In medical ultrasound imaging, high-performance beamforming is important to enhance spatial and contrast resolutions. A modern receive dynamic beamfomer uses a constant sound speed that is typically assumed to 1540 m/s in generating receive focusing delays [1], [2]. However, this assumption leads to degradation of spatial and contrast resolutions particularly when imaging obese patients or breast since the sound speed is significantly lower than the assumed sound speed [3]; the true sound speed in the fatty tissue is around 1450 m/s. In our previous study, it was demonstrated that the modified nonlinear anisotropic diffusion is capable of determining an optimal sound speed and the proposed method is a useful tool to improve ultrasound image quality [4], [5]. In the previous study, however, we utilized at least 21 iterations to find an optimal sound speed, which may not be viable for real-time applications. In this paper, we demonstrates that the number of iterations can be dramatically reduced using the GSS(golden section search) method with a minimal error. To evaluate performances of the proposed method, in vitro experiments were conducted with a tissue mimicking phantom. To emulate a heterogeneous medium, the phantom was immersed in the water. From the experiments, the number of iterations was reduced from 21 to 7 with GSS method and the maximum error of the lateral resolution between direct and GSS was less than 1%. These results indicate that the proposed method can be implemented in real time to improve the image quality in the medical ultrasound imaging.
© (2013) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Chong Ook Yoon, Changhan Yoon, Yangmo Yoo, Tai-Kyong Song, and Jin Ho Chang "Real-time sound speed correction using golden section search to enhance ultrasound imaging quality", Proc. SPIE 8675, Medical Imaging 2013: Ultrasonic Imaging, Tomography, and Therapy, 86751L (29 March 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2007195
Advertisement
Advertisement
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission  Get copyright permission on Copyright Marketplace
KEYWORDS
Ultrasonography

Image quality

Tissues

Image resolution

Spatial resolution

Anisotropic diffusion

Diffusion

Back to Top