Improved Modelling of Ultrasound Contrast Agent Diminution for Blood Perfusion Analysis

Abstract

Abstract. Ultrasound contrast imaging is increasingly used to analyze blood perfusion in cases of ischemic or cancerous diseases. Among other imaging methods, the diminution harmonic imaging (DHI), which modells the diminution of contrast agent due to ultrasound pulses, is the most promising because of its speed. However, the current imaging quality of DHI is insufficient for reliable diagnoses.In this paper, we extend the mathematical DHI model to include the part of the intensity signal which is due to tissue reflections and other effects not based on the contrast agent and its concentration in the blood. We show in a phantom experiment with available perfusion ground truth the vast improvements in accuracy of the new model. Our findings also strongly support the theory of a linear relationship between the perfusion speed and the determined perfusion coefficient, which is a large step towards quantitative perfusion measurements.

Toward a Standardization of Ultrasound Scanners for Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasonography: Methodology and Phantoms

“…This phan-tom with parallel tubes of 200 mm with cellulose walls, reproduced the physiologic conditions of the microvasculature with laminar flow. This phantom was used in particular to assess quantification methods (Claassen et al 2001;Gauthier et al 2011aGauthier et al , 2012bKier et al 2009;Li et al 2002;Lohmaier et al 2004;Lucidarme et al 2003;Quaia et al 2009;Ugolini et al 2000;Veltmann et al 2002) and to characterize novel ultrasound contrast agents (Casciaro, et al 2009;Lavisse et al 2008;Radhakrishnan et al 2012). This type of phantom is still difficult to use for reproducibility studies because of its delicate implementation.…”

Bidirectional local distance measure for comparing segmentations

“…The RD as a similarity index calculates differences between the radial distances of the reference and test surfaces in the same radial direction from the center of mass point of the reference surface. However, the RD measure is limited to radial and cylindrical shapes 23 and is thus dropped from further considerations for comparison.…”