Bae Unmin, Kim Yongmin
Image Computing Systems Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-2500, USA.
IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2007 Dec;54(12):2653-61. doi: 10.1109/TUFFC.2007.594.
In the conventional cross-correlation-based strain estimation, there is a trade-off between the interpolation accuracy and the computational requirement. On the other hand, the autocorrelation-based method does not need interpolation, but it cannot estimate the wide range of displacements for elastography. We have developed a new strain estimator, called the angular strain estimation method, which does not need any interpolation and can estimate strain without restricting the range of displacements. The new method estimates strain utilizing complex correlation between correlated ultrasound signals from pre-and post-compression frames. From simulation and experiments, we found that the angular strain estimation method improves the accuracy and strain image quality compared to the conventional strain estimator using cross correlation with interpolation. Furthermore, it is computationally efficient and can be readily incorporated in ultrasound machines for rea -time elastography.
在传统的基于互相关的应变估计中，在插值精度和计算需求之间存在权衡。另一方面，基于自相关的方法不需要插值，但它无法估计弹性成像中大范围的位移。我们开发了一种新的应变估计器，称为角应变估计方法，它不需要任何插值，并且可以在不限制位移范围的情况下估计应变。该新方法利用预压缩帧和后压缩帧中相关超声信号之间的复相关性来估计应变。通过模拟和实验，我们发现与使用带插值的互相关的传统应变估计器相比，角应变估计方法提高了精度和应变图像质量。此外，它计算效率高，并且可以很容易地集成到超声机器中用于实时弹性成像。
