Albinsson John, Brorsson Sofia, Ahlgren Asa Rydén, Cinthio Magnus
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
School of Business and Engineering, PRODEA Research Group, Halmstad University, Halmstad, Sweden; Health and Welfare, Dala Sports Academy, Dalarna University, Falun, Sweden.
Ultrasound Med Biol. 2014 Oct;40(10):2508-20. doi: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2014.05.010. Epub 2014 Aug 15.
The aim of this study was to evaluate tracking performance when an extra reference block is added to a basic block-matching method, where the two reference blocks originate from two consecutive ultrasound frames. The use of an extra reference block was evaluated for two putative benefits: (i) an increase in tracking performance while maintaining the size of the reference blocks, evaluated using in silico and phantom cine loops; (ii) a reduction in the size of the reference blocks while maintaining the tracking performance, evaluated using in vivo cine loops of the common carotid artery where the longitudinal movement of the wall was estimated. The results indicated that tracking accuracy improved (mean = 48%, p < 0.005 [in silico]; mean = 43%, p < 0.01 [phantom]), and there was a reduction in size of the reference blocks while maintaining tracking performance (mean = 19%, p < 0.01 [in vivo]). This novel method will facilitate further exploration of the longitudinal movement of the arterial wall.
本研究的目的是评估在基本块匹配方法中添加一个额外参考块时的跟踪性能，其中两个参考块源自两个连续的超声帧。对添加额外参考块的使用评估了两个假定的益处：（i）在保持参考块大小的同时提高跟踪性能，使用计算机模拟和体模电影环进行评估；（ii）在保持跟踪性能的同时减小参考块的大小，使用颈总动脉的体内电影环进行评估，其中估计了血管壁的纵向运动。结果表明，跟踪准确性提高（计算机模拟中均值 = 48%，p < 0.005；体模中均值 = 43%，p < 0.01），并且在保持跟踪性能的同时参考块大小减小（体内均值 = 19%，p < 0.01）。这种新方法将有助于进一步探索动脉壁的纵向运动。
