Increase of penetration depth in real-time clinical epi-optoacoustic imaging: clutter reduction and aberration correction

Michael Jaeger; Kujtim Gashi; Sara Peeters; Gerrit Held; Stefan Preisser; Michael Gruenig; Martin Frenz

doi:10.1117/12.2058125

3 March 2014 Increase of penetration depth in real-time clinical epi-optoacoustic imaging: clutter reduction and aberration correction

Michael Jaeger, Kujtim Gashi, Sara Peeters, Gerrit Held, Stefan Preisser, Michael Gruenig, Martin Frenz

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8943, Photons Plus Ultrasound: Imaging and Sensing 2014; 89430Q (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2058125
Event: SPIE BiOS, 2014, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Optoacoustic (OA) imaging will experience broadest clinical application if implemented in epi-style with the irradiation optics and the acoustic probe integrated in a single probe. This will allow most flexible imaging of the human body in a combined system together with echo ultrasound (US). In such a multimodal combination, the OA signal could provide functional information within the anatomical context shown in the US image, similar to what is already done with colour flow imaging. Up to date, successful deep epi-OA imaging was difficult to achieve, owing to clutter and acoustic aberrations. Clutter signals arise from strong optical absorption in the region of tissue irradiation and strongly reduce contrast and imaging depth. Acoustic aberrations are caused by the inhomogeneous speed of sound and degrade the spatial resolution of deep tissue structures, further reducing contrast and thus imaging depth. In past years we have developed displacement-compensated averaging (DCA) for clutter reduction based on the clutter decorrelation that occurs when palpating the tissue using the ultrasound probe. We have now implemented real-time DCA on a research ultrasound system to evaluate its clutter reduction performance in freehand scanning of human volunteers. Our results confirm that DCA significantly improves image contrast and imaging depth, making clutter reduction a basic requirement for a clinically successful combination of epi-OA and US imaging. In addition we propose a novel technique which allows automatic full aberration correction of OA images, based on measuring the effect of aberration spatially resolved using echo US. Phantom results demonstrate that this technique allows spatially invariant diffraction-limited resolution in presence of a strong aberrator.

Citation Download Citation

Michael Jaeger, Kujtim Gashi, Sara Peeters, Gerrit Held, Stefan Preisser, Michael Gruenig, and Martin Frenz "Increase of penetration depth in real-time clinical epi-optoacoustic imaging: clutter reduction and aberration correction", Proc. SPIE 8943, Photons Plus Ultrasound: Imaging and Sensing 2014, 89430Q (3 March 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2058125

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available

Members: $17.00

Non-members: $21.00 ADD TO CART

PROCEEDINGS
10 PAGES

DOWNLOAD PAPER SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

GET CITATION

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Get copyright permission Get copyright permission on Copyright Marketplace

KEYWORDS

Aberration correction

Ultrasonography

Acoustics

Tissues

Imaging systems

Phase shifts

Reconstruction algorithms

Show All Keywords

Keywords/Phrases

Search In:

Publication Years