论文标题
频率依赖的衰减重建,具有声音反射器
Frequency-Dependent Attenuation Reconstruction with an Acoustic Reflector
论文作者
论文摘要
超声波的衰减随组织组成而变化,因此其估计为组织表征,诊断和病理分期提供了巨大的潜力。我们最近提出了一种方法,该方法允许使用被动声反射器的反射基于计算机断层扫描,基于计算机断层扫描在组织中整体超声衰减的分布。这需要在脉冲回声模式下运行的标准超声传感器,并使用水测量值进行校准协议,因此可以在具有较小适应的常规超声系统上实现。在此,我们通过首次估算和成像局部超声衰减的频率依赖性性质来扩展此方法。衰减系数和指数的空间分布已重建,从而实现了精心且表达的组织特异性表征。通过模拟,我们证明我们所提出的方法在1MHz处得出的较低重建误差为0.04db/cm,用于衰减系数,频率指数为0.08。有了模拟组织的幻像和前牛肌肉样品,很高的重建对比度以及可重复性。明胶 - 纤维素混合物和前牛肌肉样品的衰减指数平均为1.4和0.5,始终如一地来自其异质成分的不同图像。这种依赖频率的参数化可以实现新颖的成像和诊断技术,并促进其他基于超声的成像技术的衰减补偿。
Attenuation of ultrasound waves varies with tissue composition, hence its estimation offers great potential for tissue characterization and diagnosis and staging of pathology. We recently proposed a method that allows to spatially reconstruct the distribution of the overall ultrasound attenuation in tissue based on computed tomography, using reflections from a passive acoustic reflector. This requires a standard ultrasound transducer operating in pulse-echo mode and a calibration protocol using water measurements, thus it can be implemented on conventional ultrasound systems with minor adaptations. Herein, we extend this method by additionally estimating and imaging the frequency-dependent nature of local ultrasound attenuation for the first time. Spatial distributions of attenuation coefficient and exponent are reconstructed, enabling an elaborate and expressive tissue-specific characterization. With simulations, we demonstrate that our proposed method yields a low reconstruction error of 0.04dB/cm at 1MHz for attenuation coefficient and 0.08 for the frequency exponent. With tissue-mimicking phantoms and ex-vivo bovine muscle samples, a high reconstruction contrast as well as reproducibility are demonstrated. Attenuation exponents of a gelatin-cellulose mixture and an ex-vivo bovine muscle sample were found to be, respectively, 1.4 and 0.5 on average, consistently from different images of their heterogeneous compositions. Such frequency-dependent parametrization could enable novel imaging and diagnostic techniques, as well as facilitate attenuation compensation of other ultrasound-based imaging techniques.