Decorrelation characteristics of transverse blood flow along an intravascular array catheter

In recent years, a new method to measure transverse blood flow based on the decorrelation of radio frequency (RF) signals has been introduced. In this paper, we investigated the decorrelation characteristics of transverse blood flow measurement using an intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) array catheter by means of computer modeling. Blood was simulated as a collection of randomly located point scatterers. Moving this scattering medium transversally across the acoustical beam represented flow. First-order statistics were evaluated, and the signal-to-noise ratio from the signals was measured. The correlation coefficient method was used to present the results. The decorrelation patterns for RF and for RF-envelope signals were studied. The decorrelation patterns from the RF signals were in good agreement with those obtained from theoretical beam profiles. This agreement suggests that the decorrelation properties of an IVUS array catheter for measuring quantitative transverse blood flow can be assessed by measuring the ultrasound beam. A line of point scatterers, moved transversally across the acoustical beam (line spread function), can determine this decorrelation behaviour.     

Quantitative blood speed imaging with intravascular ultrasound

Previously, we presented a method of real-time arterial color flow imaging using an intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging system, where real-time RF A-scans were processed with an FIR (finite-impulse response) filter bank to estimate relative blood speed. Although qualitative flow measurements are clinically valuable, realizing the full potential of blood flow imaging requires quantitative flow speed and volume measurements in real time. Unfortunately, the rate of RF echo-to-echo decorrelation is not directly related to scatterer speed in a side-looking IVUS system because the elevational extent of the imaging slice varies with range. Consequently, flow imaging methods using any type of decorrelation processing to estimate blood speed without accounting for spatial variation of the radiation pattern will have estimation errors that prohibit accurate comparison of speed estimates from different depths. The FIR filter bank approach measures the rate of change of the ultrasound signal by estimating the slow-time spectrum of RF echoes. A filter bank of M bandpass filters is applied in parallel to estimate M components of the slow-time DFT (discrete Fourier transform). The relationship between the slow-time spectrum, aperture diffraction pattern, and scatterer speed is derived for a simplified target. Because the ultimate goal of this work is to make quantitative speed measurements, we present a method to map slow time spectral characteristics to a quantitative estimate. Results of the speed estimator are shown for a simulated circumferential catheter array insonifying blood moving uniformly past the array (i.e., plug flow) and blood moving with a parabolic profile (i.e., laminar flow)     

Improving IVUS palpography by incorporation of motion compensation based on block matching and optical flow

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) strain imaging of the luminal layer in coronary arteries, coined as IVUS palpography, utilizes conventional radio frequency (RF) signals acquired at 2 different levels of a compressional load. The signals are cross-correlated to obtain the microscopic tissue displacements, which can be directly translated into local strain of the vessel wall. However, (apparent) tissue motion and nonuniform deformation of the vessel wall, due to catheter wiggling, reduce signal correlation and result in invalid strain estimates. Implications of probe motion were studied on the tissue-mimicking phantom. The measured circumferential tissue displacement and level of the speckle decorrelation amounted to 12° and 0.58, respectively, for the catheter displacement of 456 μm. To compensate for the motion artifacts in IVUS palpography, a novel method based on the feature-based scale-space optical flow (OF), and classical block matching (BM) algorithm, were employed. The computed OF vector and BM displacement fields quantify the amount of local tissue misalignment in consecutive frames. Subsequently, the extracted circumferential displacements are used to realign the signals before strain computation. Motion compensation reduces the RF signal decorrelation and increases the number of valid strain estimates. The advantage of applying the motion correction in IVUS palpography was demonstrated in a midscale validation study on 14 in vivo pullbacks. Both methods substantially increase the number of valid strain estimates in the partial and compounded palpograms. Mean relative improvement in the number of valid strain estimates with motion compensation in comparison to one without motion compensation amounts to 28% and 14%, respectively. Implementation of motion compensation methods boosts the diagnostic value of IVUS palpography.     

Annular-ring CMUT arrays for forward-looking IVUS: transducer characterization and imaging

In this study, a 64-element, 1.15-mm diameter annular-ring capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) array was characterized and used for forward-looking intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging tests. The array was manufactured using low-temperature processes suitable for CMOS electronics integration on a single chip. The measured radiation pattern of a 43 X 140-microm2 array element depicts a 40 degrees view angle for forward-looking imaging around a 15-MHz center frequency in agreement with theoretical models. Pulse-echo measurements show a -10-dB fractional bandwidth of 104% around 17 MHz for wire targets 2.5 mm away from the array in vegetable oil. For imaging and SNR measurements, RF A-scan data sets from various targets were collected using an interconnect scheme forming a 32-element array configuration. An experimental point spread function was obtained and compared with simulated and theoretical array responses, showing good agreement. Therefore, this study demonstrates that annular-ring CMUT arrays fabricated with CMOS-compatible processes are capable of forward-looking IVUS imaging, and the developed modeling tools can be used to design improved IVUS imaging arrays.     

Lateral blood flow velocity estimation based on ultrasound speckle size change with scan velocity

Conventional (Doppler-based) blood flow velocity measurement methods using ultrasound are capable of resolving the axial component (i.e., that aligned with the ultrasound propagation direction) of the blood flow velocity vector. However, these methods are incapable of detecting blood flow in the direction normal to the ultrasound beam. In addition, these methods require repeated pulse-echo interrogation at the same spatial location. A new method has been introduced which estimates the lateral component of blood flow within a single image frame using the observation that the speckle pattern corresponding to blood reflectors (typically red blood cells) stretches (i.e., is smeared) if the blood is moving in the same direction as the electronically-controlled transducer line selection in a 2-D image. The situation is analogous to the observed distortion of a subject photographed with a moving camera. The results of previous research showed a linear relationship between the stretch factor (increase in lateral speckle size) and blood flow velocity. However, errors exist in the estimation when used to measure blood flow velocity. In this paper, the relationship between speckle size and blood flow velocity is investigated further with both simulated flow data and measurements from a blood flow phantom. It can be seen that: 1) when the blood flow velocity is much greater than the scan velocity (spatial rate of A-line acquisition), the velocity will be significantly underestimated because of speckle decorrelation caused by quick blood movement out of the ultrasound beam; 2) modeled flow gradients increase the average estimation error from a range between 1.4% and 4.4%, to a range between 4.4% and 6.8%; and 3) estimation performance in a blood flow phantom with both flow gradients and random motion of scatterers increases the average estimation error to between 6.1% and 7.8%. Initial attempts at a multiple-scan strategy for estimating flow by a least-squares model suggest the possibility of increased accuracy using multiple scan velocities.     

Directional synthetic aperture flow imaging

A method for flow estimation using synthetic aperture imaging and focusing along the flow direction is presented. The method can find the correct velocity magnitude for any flow angle, and full color flow images can be measured using only 32 to 128 pulse emissions. The approach uses spherical wave emissions with a number of defocused elements and a linear frequency-modulated pulse (chirp) to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. The received signals are dynamically focused along the flow direction and these signals are used in a cross-correlation estimator for finding the velocity magnitude. The flow angle is manually determined from the B-mode image. The approach can be used for both tissue and blood velocity determination. The approach was investigated using both simulations and a flow system with a laminar flow. The flow profile was measured with a commercial 7.5 MHz linear array transducer. A plastic tube with an internal diameter of 17 mm was used with an EcoWatt 1 pump generating a laminar, stationary flow. The velocity profile was measured for flow angles of 90 and 60 degrees. The RASMUS research scanner was used for acquiring radio frequency (RF) data from 128 elements of the array, using 8 emissions with 11 elements in each emission. A 20-micros chirp was used during emission. The RF data were subsequently beamformed off-line and stationary echo canceling was performed. The 60-degree flow with a peak velocity of 0.15 m/s was determined using 16 groups of 8 emissions, and the relative standard deviation was 0.36% (0.65 mm/s). Using the same setup for purely transverse flow gave a standard deviation of 1.2% (2.1 mm/s). Variation of the different parameters revealed the sensitivity to number of lines, angle deviations, length of correlation interval, and sampling interval. An in vivo image of the carotid artery and jugular vein of a healthy 29-year-old volunteer was acquired. A full color flow image using only 128 emissions could be made with a high-velocity precision.     

Quantitative real-time blood flow estimation with intravascular ultrasound in the presence of in-plane flow

Previously, we showed a source of error in blood flow estimation introduced by in-plane flow using a slow-time finite-impulse response (FIR) filter-bank method measuring blood flow through the image plane of an intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) catheter array. There is a monotonic relationship between flow velocity and the normalized second moment of the slow-time spectrum when flow is orthogonal to the image plane of a side-looking catheter array. However, this relationship changes in the presence of in-plane flow, as slow-time spectra shift and spread with varying in-plane and out-of-plane components. These two effects increase the normalized spectral second moment, resulting in flow overestimates. However, by resampling the received signal with variable time delay from pulse to pulse (i.e., tilting the slow-time signals), the slow-time spectrum shifts back to direct current (DC), and the orthogonal estimation method can be used. We present a method to correct this overestimation and accurately estimate blood flow through the image plane in real time. Initially, the tilt delay needed to shift the slow-time spectrum back to DC at each point within the flow field is calculated. Knowing this tilt delay, a tilted slow-time signal is obtained for the velocity component normal to the image plane, and its spectrum is estimated using a filter-bank. That spectrum then is used to estimate the flow speed using a mapping function closely related to the monotonic relationship between the slow-time spectrum and flow speed observed for orthogonal flow. To accurately estimate flow angles, we modified the filter-bank algorithm, applying slow-time filter coefficients in a tilted arrangement and studying the slow-time spectral energy as a function of tilt. The slow-time spectral estimate is constructed with the tilted output of eight narrow, band-pass filters from a filter-bank. Independent simulations show that, for blood slowing at angles between +/-6 degrees and +/-15 degrees at a speed of 300 mm/s, flow velocity would be overestimated by as much as 38.79% and 249%, respectively, using the direct filter-bank approach. However, this error can be corrected using the modified method presented here, reducing the maximum overestimation error by a factor of 2.69 and 10.88 for those angles, respectively. Although the remaining error is not negligible, the volume flow rate, calculated by integrating the flow velocity over the entire vessel lumen, differs by only 3% or less from the true value over the angular range considered here. This represents an improvement of a factor of 40 over uncompensated estimates at maximum flow angles. Consequently, the modified real-time method can quantitatively measure flow in most IVUS applications in which the catheter's image plane is not precisely orthogonal to the flow direction.     

Directional velocity estimation using focusing along the flow direction. I: Theory and simulation

A new method for directional velocity estimation is presented. The method uses beam formation along the flow direction to generate data in which the correct velocity magnitude can be directly estimated from the shift in position of the received consecutive signals. The shift is found by cross-correlating the beamformed lines. The approach can find the velocity in any direction, including transverse to the traditionally emitted ultrasound beam. The velocity estimation is studied through extensive simulations using Field II. A 128-element, 7-MHz linear array is used. A parabolic velocity profile with a peak velocity of 0.5 m/s is simulated for different beam-to-flow angles and for different emit foci. At 45/spl deg/ the relative standard deviation over the profile is 1.6% for a transmit focus at 40 mm. At 90/spl deg/ the approach gave a relative standard deviation of 6.6% with a transmit focus of 80 mm, when using 8 pulse-echo lines and stationary echo canceling. Pulsatile flow in the femoral artery was also simulated using Womersley's flow model. A purely transverse flow profile could be obtained with a relative standard deviation of less than 10% over the whole cardiac cycle using 8 pulse emissions for each imaging direction, which is sufficient to show clinically relevant transverse color flow images.     

On velocity estimation using speckle decorrelation

Quantitative estimation of blood velocity using Doppler techniques is fundamentally limited because only the axial component can be detected. Speckle decorrelation resulting from scatterer motion may be used to compute non-axial components and to obtain quantitative flow information. Based on both simulations and experimental results, it is shown that the decorrelation technique is feasible only for constant flows. If flow gradients are present, the correlation between two signals along the same line of observation may be significantly affected by the gradients. Therefore, the decorrelation method cannot be used for quantitative flow estimation if flow gradients are not accurately measured and effects on signal correlation are not fully compensated. Results in this paper show that accurate estimation of flow gradients is practically difficult. It is further shown that effects of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) on the correlation must also be taken into account for quantitative flow analysis.     

An extended autocorrelation method for estimation of blood velocity

The conventional autocorrelation method (AM) to estimate the blood velocity for color flow imaging (CFI) is based on the phase estimation of the autocorrelation function. In this paper, a new extended autocorrelation method (EAM) that uses both phase and magnitude of the two dimensional (depth and temporal direction) autocorrelation function for estimating the blood velocity is presented. It is shown that the EAM has similar performance as the cross-correlation method (CCM). Both of them have smaller estimation variance than the AM and have the ability to estimate velocities beyond the Nyquist velocity, but the EAM is more computationally efficient than the CCM. A 2-D blood flow signal with rectilinear velocity including the transit time effect has also been simulated and the results are presented in this paper. For comparison, the EAM and the CCM have been applied to the simulated signals in which the flow velocities are up to four times the Nyquist velocity. The EAM has been further verified by experimental RF data from the subclavian artery     

Maximum likelihood blood velocity estimator incorporating properties of flow physics

The aspect of correlation among the blood velocities in time and space has not received much attention in previous blood velocity estimators. The theory of fluid mechanics predicts this property of the blood flow. Additionally, most estimators based on a cross-correlation analysis are limited on the maximum velocity detectable. This is due to the occurrence of multiple peaks in the cross-correlation function. In this study a new estimator (CMLE), which is based on correlation (C) properties inherited from fluid flow and maximum likelihood estimation (MLE), is derived and evaluated on a set of simulated and in vivo data from the carotid artery. The estimator is meant for two-dimensional (2-D) color flow imaging. The resulting mathematical relation for the estimator consists of two terms. The first term performs a cross-correlation analysis on the signal segment in the radio frequency (RF)-data under investigation. The flow physic properties are exploited in the second term, as the range of velocity values investigated in the cross-correlation analysis are compared to the velocity estimates in the temporal and spatial neighborhood of the signal segment under investigation. The new estimator has been compared to the cross-correlation (CC) estimator and the previously developed maximum likelihood estimator (MLE). The results show that the CMLE can handle a larger velocity search range and is capable of estimating even low velocity levels from tissue motion. The CC and the MLE produce incorrect velocity estimates due to the multiple peaks, when the velocity search range is increased above the maximum detectable velocity. The root-mean square error (RMS) on the velocity estimates for the simulated data is on the order of 7 cm/s (14%) for the CMLE, and it is comparable to the RMS for the CC and the MLE. When the velocity search range is set to twice the limit of the CC and the MLE, the number of incorrect velocity estimates are 0, 19.1, and 7.2% for the CMLE, CC, and MLE, respectively. The ability to handle a larger search range and estimating low velocity levels was confirmed on in vivo data.     

Simulation and experimental studies on plasma temperature, flow velocity, and injector diameter effects for an inductively coupled plasma

An inductively coupled plasma (ICP) is analyzed by means of experiments and numerical simulation. Important plasma properties are analyzed, namely, the effective temperature inside the central channel and the mean flow velocity inside the plasma. Furthermore, the effect of torches with different injector diameters is studied by the model. The temperature inside the central channel is determined from the end-on collected line-to-background ratio in dependence of the injector gas flow rates. Within the limits of 3% deviation, the results of the simulation and the experiments are in good agreement in the range of flow rates relevant for the analysis of relatively large droplets, i.e., ～50 μm. The deviation increases for higher gas flow rates but stays below 6% for all flow rates studied. The velocity of the gas inside the coil region was determined by side-on analyte emission measurements with single monodisperse droplet introduction and by the analysis of the injector gas path lines in the simulation. In the downstream region significantly higher velocities were found than in the upstream region in both the simulation and the experiment. The quantitative values show good agreement in the downstream region. In the upstream region, deviations were found in the absolute values which can be attributed to the flow conditions in that region and because the methods used for velocity determination are not fully consistent. Eddy structures are found in the simulated flow lines. These affect strongly the way taken by the path lines of the injector gas and they can explain the very long analytical signals found in the experiments at low flow rates. Simulations were performed for different injector diameters in order to find conditions where good analyte transport and optimum signals can be expected. The results clearly show the existence of a transition flow rate which marks the lower limit for effective analyte transport conditions through the plasma. A rule-of-thumb equation was extracted from the results from which the transition flow rate can be estimated for different injector diameters and different injector gas compositions.     

Directional velocity estimation using focusing along the flow direction. II: Experimental investigation

For pt. I see ibid., vol. 50, no. 7, p. 857 (2003). A new method for directional velocity estimation is investigated through a number of flow rig measurements. The method uses beam-formation along the flow direction to generate data, where the correct velocity magnitude can directly be estimated from the shift in position of the received consecutive signals. The shift is found by cross-correlating the beamformed lines. The approach can find the velocity in any direction, including transverse to the traditionally emitted ultrasound beam. The method is investigated using a flow rig with a peak velocity of 0.15 m/s. A 7-MHz linear array transducer is used together with a dedicated sampling system to acquire signals from 64 transducer elements simultaneously. A technique for obtaining 128-element data using multiplexing is also presented. The data is beamformed off-line on a PC. A relative standard deviation of 1.4% can be obtained for a beam-to-flow angle of 45/spl deg/ and 4.3% at 90/spl deg/. Color flow images are displayed showing that the correct velocity magnitude can be obtained with the method for beam-to-flow angles of 60 and 90/spl deg/ with an accuracy of 3 to 4%.     

Laser Doppler blood flow complementary metal oxide semiconductor imaging sensor with analog on-chip processing

A 4 x 4 pixel array with analog on-chip processing has been fabricated within a 0.35 mum complementary metal oxide semiconductor process as a prototype sensor for laser Doppler blood flow imaging. At each pixel the bandpass and frequency weighted filters necessary for processing laser Doppler blood flow signals have been designed and fabricated. Because of the space constraints of implementing an accurate omega(0.5) filter at the pixel level, this has been approximated using the "roll off" of a high-pass filter with a cutoff frequency set at 10 kHz. The sensor has been characterized using a modulated laser source. Fixed pattern noise is present that is demonstrated to be repeatable across the array and can be calibrated. Preliminary blood flow results on a finger before and after occlusion demonstrate that the sensor array provides the potential for a system that can be scaled to a larger number of pixels for blood flow imaging.     

Doppler angle and flow velocity estimations using the classic and transverse Doppler effects

Current clinical Doppler ultrasound systems could only measure the flow vector parallel to the ultrasound beam axis, and the knowledge of the Doppler angle (beam-to-flow angle) is needed to calculate the real flow velocity. Currently, the Doppler angle is determined visually by manually aligning a vessel axis marker along the blood vessel on the duplex scan image of the ultrasound. The application of this procedure is often limited by practical constraints; therefore, measurements are not reliable. In order to overcome this problem, the authors developed a simple Doppler angle and flow velocity estimation method using a combination of the classic and transverse Doppler effects. This method uses only a single focused annular array transducer to estimate the Doppler angle and the flow velocity. The authors have verified experimentally that this method is successful for measuring constant flow in a flow phantom between 45 degrees and 80 degrees Doppler angle. The standard deviation of the estimated Doppler angles is less than 4.5 degrees . This method could be implemented easily in medical Doppler ultrasound systems to automatically estimate the Doppler angle and the flow velocity.     

Ultrasound simulation of complex flow velocity fields based on computational fluid dynamics

In this work, a simulation environment for the development of flow-related ultrasound algorithms is presented. Ultrasound simulations of realistic Doppler signals require accurate modeling of blood flow. Instead of using analytically described flow behavior, complex blood movement can be derived from velocity fields obtained with computational fluid dynamics (CFD). By further modeling blood as a collection of point scatterers, resulting RF-signals can be efficiently retrieved using an existing ultrasound simulation model. The main aim of this paper is to elaborate on creating CFD-based phantoms for ultrasound simulations. The coupling of a computed flow field with an ultrasound model offers flexible control of flow and ultrasound imaging parameters, beneficial for improving and developing imaging algorithms. The proposed method was validated in a straight tube with a stationary parabolic velocity profile and further demonstrated by an eccentrically stenosis carotid bifurcation. The estimated flow velocities are in good agreement with the CFD reference, both for color flow imaging and pulsed-wave doppler simulations. The presented method can also be extended to include wall mechanics simulations in future work.     

A new method for estimation of velocity vectors

The paper describes a new method for determining the velocity vector of a remotely sensed object using either sound or electromagnetic radiation. The movement of the object is determined from a field with spatial oscillations in both the axial direction of the transducer and in one or two directions transverse to the axial direction. By using a number of pulse emissions, the inter-pulse movement can be estimated and the velocity found from the estimated movement and the time between pulses. The method is based on the principle of using transverse spatial modulation for making the received signal influenced by transverse motion. Such a transverse modulation can be generated by using apodization on individual transducer array elements together with a special focusing scheme. A method for making such a field is presented along with a suitable two-dimensional velocity estimator. An implementation usable in medical ultrasound is described, and simulated results are presented. Simulation results for a flow of 1 m/s in a tube rotated in the image plane at specific angles (0, 15, 35, 55, 75, and 90 degrees) are made and characterized by the estimated mean value, estimated angle, and the standard deviation in the lateral and longitudinal direction. The average performance of the estimates for all angles is: mean velocity 0.99 m/s, longitudinal S.D. 0.015 m/s, and lateral S.D. 0.196 m/s. For flow parallel to the transducer the results are: mean velocity 0.95 m/s, angle 0.10, longitudinal S.D. 0.020 m/s, and lateral S.D. 0.172 m/s.     

Speckle decorrelation due to two-dimensional flow gradients

The performance of ultrasonic velocity estimation methods is degraded by speckle decorrelation, the change in received echoes over time. Because ultrasonic speckle is formed by the complex sum of echoes from subresolution scatterers, it is sensitive to the relative motion of those scatterers. Velocity gradients in flowing blood result in relative scatterer motion and can be a significant source of speckle decorrelation. Computer simulations were performed to evaluate speckle decorrelation due to two-dimensional flow gradients. Results indicate that decorrelation due to flow gradients is sensitive to the angle of flow and has a maximum at a beam-vessel angle of 0 degrees , i.e., purely axial flow. A quantitative summary of the major factors causing speckle decorrelation indicates that flow gradients are the most significant contributors under the conditions modeled.     

结合横向振荡和空间正交的向量血流速度测量

传统的彩色多普勒成像只能测量与超声波束平行的血流速度分量,且依赖于超声波束与血管之间的夹角。超声向量血流成像是一种更加先进的血流成像技术,该方法可以直接获得血流速度的实际大小和方向,因此不依赖于超声波束与血管之间的夹角。本文从向量血流测量方法之一的横向声场法入手,简要概括了横向振荡(Transverse Oscillation, TO)法和空间正交(Spatial Quadrature, SQ)法两种方法的基本原理、成像过程及各自的优缺点,并提出了一种互相结合的方法,即奇偶振荡法(Odd Even Oscillation, OEO),该方法利用SQ法快速进行波束合成,利用TO法计算最终的速度矢量,克服了TO法和SQ法各自的缺点,能够有效解决TO法成像计算量大以及SQ法出现混叠和对噪声灵敏度高的问题。     

Adaptive pattern correlation for two-dimensional blood flowmeasurements

One of the major drawbacks of ultrasonic Doppler instruments in measuring blood flow is their inability to measure the velocity perpendicular to the beam. Time domain RF echo or speckle tracking has been studied as an alternative to overcome this problem. By acquiring two-dimensional (2-D) echo signals, both lateral (perpendicular to the beam) and axial (parallel to the beam) velocities can be calculated with 2-D pattern correlation algorithms. One of the disadvantages of the current 2-D pattern correlation algorithms is the extensive computation time involved in computing the 2-D cross-correlation function. In this paper, we present several time-efficient bit-pattern correlation algorithms to execute 2-D speckle tracking. The proposed algorithms first estimate the noise level from the acquired signals and use it as a priori knowledge to minimize computation time. The reduction of computation time may make it more feasible for real-time measurements of flow velocities in two dimensions. Radio frequency and video data collected from two commercial scanners are used to validate the feasibility of these proposed algorithms with porcine blood as the flowing medium in in vitro experiments. The results obtained by the proposed algorithms are in good agreement with those computed from the cross-correlation function