The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea (한국음향학회지)

The Acoustical Society of Korea (한국음향학회)
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Fast Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse Imaging Using Non-focused Transmission in Medical Ultrasound Imaging

초음파 의료 영상에서 비집속 송신을 이용한 고속 음향 복사력 임펄스 영상법

  • Received : 2011.12.24
  • Accepted : 2012.03.15
  • Published : 2012.04.30
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Abstract

In medical ultrasound imaging, elasticity imaging helps to diagnose tumors such as cancer. This paper is concerned with the application of acoustic radiation force to soft tissue of interest to implement elasticity imaging. In order to reduce the data acquisition time, instead of relying on transmit focusing, a plane wave of burst type is transmitted to apply the acoustic radiation force simultaneously to an entire imaging region to be observed. A homogeneous phantom experiment confirms that increasing the transmit excitation duration instead of employing transmit focusing generates a high enough acoustic radiation force to obtain elasticity images. It is found, however, that a different displacement versus time characteristic is observed unlike the case of using a conventional focused acoustic radiation force. Experimental results obtained through the use of an ultrasound phantom and a bovine liver show that lesions can be correctly differentiated.

초음파 의료 영상에서 탄성영상은 암과 같은 종양의 진단에 도움을 준다. 본 논문은 초음파 음향 복사력을 이용하여 관찰하고자 하는 연조직에 힘을 인가하여 탄성 영상을 구현하였다. 데이터 획득 시간을 줄이기 위하여 송신 집속을 하지 않고 버스트 (burst) 형태의 평면파를 송신하여 모든 영상 영역에 동시에 음향 복사력이 인가되도록 하였다. 균일 탄성팬텀을 이용한 실험에서 송신 집속을 하지 않고도, 송신 시간을 길게 함으로써 탄성 영상을 얻기에 충분한 음향 복사력을 얻을 수 있음을 확인하였다. 그러나 기존의 집속형 음향 복사력을 이용한 영상과는 다른 시간 대 변위 특성이 관찰되었다. 제안한 탄성 영상 기법으로 초음파 병변 탄성 팬텀과 소의 간 실험에서 병변을 구별할 수 있음을 확인하였다.

Keywords

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