title: Echoscintigraphy: a new imaging modality for the reduction of color blooming and acoustic shadowing in contrast sonography.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a new imaging modality (echoscintigraphy) to reduce color blooming and acoustic shadowing in contrast sonography. After injection of various amounts (700 to 40,000 bubbles/mL) of the echo contrast agent SH-U 563A into a flow phantom, artificial vessels were insonated in the intermittent harmonic-power Doppler imaging (H-PDI) mode. The receive gain was varied from 50% to 75%. The cross-sectional area (CSA) of the tube was assessed using a new summation algorithm (echoscintigraphy) and a conventional single-frame analysis (S-FA) of the H-PDI-signals. Echoscintigraphy is based on the recording and summation of low-intensity signals that are emitted during the ultrasound (US)-induced destruction of microbubbles. Application of the summation algorithm at low-contrast concentration allowed a gain-independent automatic calculation of the CSA at medium and high gain settings. Using the S-FA method, the assessment of the vessel diameter and the CSA was gain-dependent and allowed correct measurements only from 60% to 65% gain. At a high receive-gain and high contrast concentration, S-FA resulted in an overestimation of the CSA up to 35.5%. Echoscintigraphy allows correct display of contrast-filled vessels over a wide range of gain settings at low contrast concentrations, where S-FA does not adequately display echo contrast. Thus, echoscintigraphy minimizes artefacts resulting from color blooming and acoustic shadowing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Essen, Essen, Germany. thomas.schlosser@uni-essen.de
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schlosser
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pohl
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kuntz-Hehner
authors.forename: Heyder
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Omran
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Becher
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tiemann
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D016477:Artifacts; D003287:Contrast Media; D018618:Echocardiography, Doppler, Color / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D004659:Enbucrilate; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011108:Polymers; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D011108:Polymers; C105825:SH U 563 A; D004659:Enbucrilate