TY - GEN
T1 - Optimal sound speed estimation to enhance photo acoustic image quality in breast microcalcification detection
AU - Yoon, Hanghan
AU - Yoo, Yangmo
AU - Song, Tai Kyong
AU - Chang, Jin Ho
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) based on an array transducer involves a delay-and-sum beamforming (DAS-BF) method using an assumed fixed sound speed, e.g., 1540 m/s. However, true sound speed in soft tissues varies approximately 1450 m/s to 1600 m/s, leading to degradation of the PAI quality. In this paper, a method for estimating an optimal sound speed is proposed to enhance the quality of cross-sectional PAI. In the method, the modified nonlinear anisotropic diffusion (MNAD) is utilized to reduce the artifacts stemming from the defocusing of ultrasound waves and quality of PAI is quantified using the edge conspicuity (EC). In addition, a standard optimization method (e.g., golden section search) is employed for real-time operation of the proposed method. The performances of the method were evaluated with ex vivo experiments. The results demonstrated that improvement of PA image quality can be achieved when the optimal sound speed estimated by the proposed method is utilized.
AB - Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) based on an array transducer involves a delay-and-sum beamforming (DAS-BF) method using an assumed fixed sound speed, e.g., 1540 m/s. However, true sound speed in soft tissues varies approximately 1450 m/s to 1600 m/s, leading to degradation of the PAI quality. In this paper, a method for estimating an optimal sound speed is proposed to enhance the quality of cross-sectional PAI. In the method, the modified nonlinear anisotropic diffusion (MNAD) is utilized to reduce the artifacts stemming from the defocusing of ultrasound waves and quality of PAI is quantified using the edge conspicuity (EC). In addition, a standard optimization method (e.g., golden section search) is employed for real-time operation of the proposed method. The performances of the method were evaluated with ex vivo experiments. The results demonstrated that improvement of PA image quality can be achieved when the optimal sound speed estimated by the proposed method is utilized.
KW - Beamforming
KW - Microcalcification
KW - Nonlinear anisotropic diffusion
KW - Photoacoustic imaging
KW - Sound speed estimation
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84884172770
U2 - 10.2316/P.2012.786-059
DO - 10.2316/P.2012.786-059
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84884172770
SN - 9780889869493
T3 - Proceedings of the IASTED International Conference on Signal and Image Processing, SIP 2012
SP - 228
EP - 234
BT - Proceedings of the IASTED International Conference on Signal and Image Processing, SIP 2012
T2 - 14th IASTED International Conference on Signal and Image Processing, SIP 2012
Y2 - 20 August 2012 through 22 August 2012
ER -