Optimization of transmit parameters for two-dimensional cardiac strain estimation with coherent compounding in silico, in vitro, and in vivo

Optimization of Transmit Parameters in Cardiac Strain Imaging With Full and Partial Aperture Coherent Compounding

“…Like the transmit parameters discussed above, the number of virtual sources has tradeoffs that must be considered. SNR is critical in echocardiographic applications, and increasing the number of virtual sources generally leads to an improvement in strain estimation quality [16], [24], [29], [30]. The average sonographic SNR of the evaluated transmit configurations is summarized in Table I, and corroborates this finding.…”

“…The advantage of having a large virtual aperture is that lateral resolution is enhanced (Fig. 2a) [16], [24]. However, the tradeoff is decreased pressure output (Fig.…”

“…Compounding for cardiac imaging has been implemented in two main configurations. First, compounding can be performed with a partial transmit aperture and no steering of the diverging wave [16], [24], [25]. Second, compounding can be accomplished with a full transmit aperture and steering of the diverging wave [26]–[28].…”

“…To overcome these challenges, it is critical that the imaging sequence used is optimized to estimate strain as accurately as possible. Previously, we have performed investigations into the effect of subaperture, angular aperture, and virtual source number on strain estimation accuracy in partial transmit compounding [24], [29]. However, no extensive investigation into the best transmit parameters for strain estimation of the myocardium with full transmit aperture compounding has yet been performed, nor has any comparison between the two approaches to compounding yet been accomplished.…”