Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1760216 Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology 2016 11 Pages PDF
Abstract
Thermal (temporal) strain imaging (TSI) is being developed to detect the lipid-rich core of atherosclerotic plaques and presence of fatty liver disease. However, the effects of ultrasonic clutter on TSI have not been considered. In this study, we evaluated whether pulse inversion harmonic imaging (PIHI) could be used to improve estimates of thermal (temporal) strain. Using mixed castor oil-gelatin phantoms of different concentrations and artificially introduced clutter, we found that PIHI improved the signal-to-noise ratio of TSI by an average of 213% or 52.1% relative to 3.3- and 6.6-MHz imaging, respectively. In a phantom constructed using human liposuction fat in the presence of clutter, the contrast-to-noise ratio was degraded by 35.1% for PIHI compared with 62.4% and 43.7% for 3.3- and 6.6-MHz imaging, respectively. These findings were further validated using an ex vivo carotid endarterectomy sample. PIHI can be used to improve estimates of thermal (temporal) strain in the presence of clutter.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Physics and Astronomy Acoustics and Ultrasonics
Authors
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