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Innovative aberration correction in ultrasound diagnostics with direct phase estimation for enhanced image quality

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Abstract

The paper addresses a crucial challenge in medical radiology and introduces a novel general approach, which utilises applied mathematics and information technology techniques, for aberration correction in ultrasound diagnostics. Ultrasound imaging of inhomogeneous media inherently suffers from variations in ultrasonic speed between tissue. The characteristics of aberrations are unique to each patient due to tissue morphology. This study proposes a new phase aberration correction method based on the Fourier transform and leveraging of the synthetic aperture mode. The proposed method enables correction after the emission and reception of ultrasonic wave, allowing for the estimation of aberration profiles for different parts of the sonogram. To demonstrate the method’s performance, this study included the conducting of experiments using a commercially available quality control phantom, an ex-vivo temporal human bone, and specially designed distortion layers. At a frequency of 2 MHz, the experiments demonstrated an increase of two-and-three-quarters in echo signal intensity and a decrease of nearly two-fold in the width of the angular distribution compared to the pre-correction state. However, it is important to note that the implementation of the method has a limitation, as it requires an aperture synthesis mode and access to raw RF data, which restricts use in common scanners. To ensure the reproducibility of the results, this paper provides public access to an in-house C +  + code for aberration correction following the proposed method, as well as the dataset used in this study.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357867058_Aberration_Correction_Raw_Ultrasound_Data_and_Computer_Program.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to honor the memory of Professor Benenson ZM, as the ideas he expressed during his work at Dorodnitsyn Computing Centre were used in this study. The work was supported by the Healthcare Department (USIS No. 123031500001-4).

Funding

This paper was prepared by a group of authors as a part of the research and development effort titled “Development of design and manufacturing technology, and production of phantoms to capture more mineable data from ultrasound imaging”, (USIS No. 123031500001-4) in accordance with the Order No. 1196 dated December 21, 2022 “On approval of state assignments funded by means of allocations from the budget of the city of Moscow to the state budgetary (autonomous) institutions subordinate to the Moscow Healthсare Department, for 2023 and the planned period of 2024 and 2025” issued by the Moscow Healthcare Department.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Moscow Center for Diagnostics and Telemedicine, Moscow, Russia

    Denis Leonov

  2. National Research University “Moscow Power Engineering Institute”, Moscow, Russia

    Denis Leonov & Polina Solovyova

  3. Federal Research Centre “Computer Science and Control” of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    Nicholas Kulberg & Tatyana Yakovleva

  4. Brazilian Air Force Academy, Pirassununga, São Paulo, Brazil

    José Francisco Silva Costa-Júnior

  5. Department of Electrical Engineering, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL, 32224, USA

    Manob Jyoti Saikia

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  1. Denis Leonov
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  2. Nicholas Kulberg
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  3. Tatyana Yakovleva
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  4. Polina Solovyova
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  5. José Francisco Silva Costa-Júnior
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  6. Manob Jyoti Saikia
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Correspondence to Denis Leonov.

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Leonov, D., Kulberg, N., Yakovleva, T. et al. Innovative aberration correction in ultrasound diagnostics with direct phase estimation for enhanced image quality. Phys Eng Sci Med 46, 1765–1778 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13246-023-01338-0

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