Madsen Ernest L, Song Chihwa, Frank Gary R
Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
Ultrasound Med Biol. 2014 Jul;40(7):1697-717. doi: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2014.02.011. Epub 2014 Apr 24.
Tissue-mimicking phantoms and software for quantifying the ability of human observers to detect small low-echo spheres as a function of depth have been developed. Detectability is related to the imager's ability to delineate the boundary of a 3-D object such as a spiculated tumor. The phantoms accommodate a broad range of transducer shapes and sizes. Three phantoms are described: one with 2-mm-diameter spheres (for higher frequencies), one with 3.2-mm-diameter spheres (for lower frequencies) and one with 4-mm-diameter spheres (for lower frequencies). The spheres are randomly distributed in each phantom. The attenuation coefficients of spheres and surroundings are nearly identical; thus, compromising shadowing or enhancement distal to spheres does not occur. Reproducibility results are given for pairs of independent data sets involving eight different combinations of scanner, transducer and console settings. The following comparison results are also reported: (i) only the selected frequency differs; (ii) transducers and scan parameters are nearly the same but manufacturers differ; (iii) ordinary B-scanning, spatial compounding and tissue harmonic imaging are addressed. The phantoms and software promise to be valuable tools for scanning system and setup comparisons and for acceptance testing.
已开发出组织模拟体模和软件，用于量化人类观察者检测小的低回声球体的能力随深度的变化。可检测性与成像仪描绘三维物体（如毛刺状肿瘤）边界的能力有关。这些体模适用于多种换能器形状和尺寸。描述了三种体模：一种有直径2毫米的球体（用于较高频率），一种有直径3.2毫米的球体（用于较低频率），一种有直径4毫米的球体（用于较低频率）。球体随机分布在每个体模中。球体和周围环境的衰减系数几乎相同；因此，球体远端不会出现阴影或增强现象。给出了涉及扫描仪、换能器和控制台设置的八种不同组合的独立数据集对的再现性结果。还报告了以下比较结果：（i）仅所选频率不同；（ii）换能器和扫描参数几乎相同但制造商不同；（iii）涉及普通B扫描、空间复合成像和组织谐波成像。这些体模和软件有望成为扫描系统和设置比较以及验收测试的有价值工具。
