title: Improved Detection of Kidney Stones Using an Optimized Doppler Imaging Sequence.
abstract: Kidney stones have been shown to exhibit a "twinkling artifact" (TA) under Color-Doppler ultrasound. Although this technique has better specificity than conventional Bmode imaging, it has lower sensitivity. To improve the overall performance of using TA as a diagnostic tool, Doppler output parameters were optimizedin-vitro. The collected data supports a previous hypothesis that TA is caused by random oscillations of micron sized bubbles trapped in the cracks and crevices of kidney stones. A set of optimized parameters were implemented such that that the MI & TI remained within the FDA approved limits. Several clinical kidney scans were performed with the optimized settings and were able to detect stones with improved SNR relative to the default settings.
authors.affiliation: CIMU, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
authors.forename: Bryan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cunitz
authors.affiliation: CIMU, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
authors.forename: Barbrina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dunmire
authors.affiliation: CIMU, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
authors.forename: Marla
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paun
authors.affiliation: CIMU, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
authors.forename: Oleg
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sapozhnikov
authors.affiliation: CIMU, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kucewicz
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hsi
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
authors.forename: Franklin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Washington, Seattle, USA ; Division of Urology, Puget Sound Veteran Affairs Medical Center, Seattle, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sorensen
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Harper
authors.affiliation: CIMU, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bailey
keywords: Doppler; Ultrasound; cavitation; detection; kidney stone; optimization