Nakagami– m Parametric Imaging for Atherosclerotic Plaque Characterization Using the Coarse-to-Fine Method

Abstract The Nakagami model was used to analyze the statistical differences in ultrasound backscattered signals between different plaque types. To improve image resolution, Nakagami- m parametric imaging using the coarse-to-fine method based on the maximum likelihood estimation (CTF-BOW) was propose...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inUltrasound in medicine & biology Vol. 43; no. 6; pp. 1275 - 1289
Main Authors Han, Meng, Wan, Jinjin, Zhao, Yongfeng, Zhou, Xiaodong, Wan, Mingxi
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Elsevier Inc 01.06.2017
Subjects
Adult
Aged
Algorithms
Atherosclerotic plaque
Backscattered statistics
Carotid Stenosis - diagnostic imaging
Coarse-to-fine method
Female
Humans
Image Enhancement - methods
Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted - methods
Male
Middle Aged
Nakagami-m parametric imaging
Pattern Recognition, Automated - methods
Radiology
Reproducibility of Results
Sensitivity and Specificity
Ultrasound
Nakagami- m parametric imaging
Backscattered statistics
Coarse-to-fine method
Atherosclerotic plaque
Ultrasound
Nakagami-m parametric imaging
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Summary:Abstract The Nakagami model was used to analyze the statistical differences in ultrasound backscattered signals between different plaque types. To improve image resolution, Nakagami- m parametric imaging using the coarse-to-fine method based on the maximum likelihood estimation (CTF-BOW) was proposed for atherosclerotic plaque characterization. Simulation results confirmed that the CTF-BOW method significantly outperforms the sliding window method in precision, smoothness and resolution. Preliminary in vivo results (n = 45) indicated that the ranges of the m parameters for calcified, mixed and echolucent plaques are, respectively, 0.2852–0.5225, 0.6532–0.8784 and 0.8908–1.4011, with no overlap. Results revealed that the CTF-BOW method significantly improves image resolution without sacrificing accuracy and can distinguish between calcified, mixed and echolucent plaques. Moreover, it was found that the parameter m is related to the composition of the plaque, indicating that Nakagami- m parametric imaging has the potential to characterize plaques.
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ISSN:0301-5629
1879-291X
DOI:10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2017.01.025