A New Technique for the Estimation of Cardiac Motion in Echocardiography Based on Transverse Oscillations: A Preliminary Evaluation In Silico and a Feasibility Demonstration In Vivo

• Published in: IEEE transactions on medical imaging Vol. 33; no. 5; pp. 1148 - 1162
• Main Authors: Alessandrini, Martino, Basarab, Adrian, Boussel, Loic, Xinxin Guo, Serusclat, Andre, Friboulet, Denis, Kouame, Denis, Bernard, Olivier, Liebgott, Herve
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.05.2014; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE); Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: Adult; Algorithms; Array signal processing; Artificial Intelligence; Biomedical materials; Cardiac strain; Cardiology; Computer Science; Computer Simulation; Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition; echocardiography; Echocardiography - methods; Estimators; Feasibility Studies; Graphics; Heart - physiology; Humans; Image Processing; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted - methods; In vivo testing; In vivo tests; latreal displacements; Male; Motion estimation; multidimensional Hilbert transform; Oscillators; R&D; Radio frequency; radio-frequency (RF) signal; Research & development; Signal and Image Processing; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; Surgical implants; Tansverse oscillations; Transverse oscillation; transverse oscillations; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasound; Regional Myocardial Deformation; Echocardiography; Multidimensional Hilbert Transform; Beamforming Technique; Regional Myocardial Motion; Oscillators; Cardiac Motion Estimation; Phase Based Solution; Cardiac Ultrasound; Motion Estimation; Reduced Lateral Resolution; Ultrasonic Imaging; Medical Image Processing; Radio-Frequency (RF) Signal; Array Signal Processing; Cardiology; Cardiac Strain; Transverse Oscillations; Latreal Displacements
• ISSN: 0278-0062; 1558-254X; 1558-254X
• DOI: 10.1109/TMI.2014.2305846

Quantification of regional myocardial motion and deformation from cardiac ultrasound is fostering considerable research efforts. Despite the tremendous improvements done in the field, all existing approaches still face a common limitation which is intrinsically connected with the formation of the ultrasound images. Specifically, the reduced lateral resolution and the absence of phase information in the lateral direction highly limit the accuracy in the computation of lateral displacements. In this context, this paper introduces a novel setup for the estimation of cardiac motion with ultrasound. The framework includes an unconventional beamforming technique and a dedicated motion estimation algorithm. The beamformer aims at introducing phase information in the lateral direction by producing transverse oscillations. The estimator directly exploits the phase information in the two directions by decomposing the image into two 2-D single-orthant analytic signals. An in silico evaluation of the proposed framework is presented on five ultra-realistic simulated echocardiographic sequences, where the proposed motion estimator is contrasted against other two phase-based solutions exploiting the presence of transverse oscillations and against block-matching on standard images. An implementation of the new beamforming strategy on a research ultrasound platform is also shown along with a preliminary in vivo evaluation on one healthy subject.