title: High-Accuracy Ultrasound Contrast Agent Detection Method for Diagnostic Ultrasound Imaging Systems.
abstract: An accurate method for detecting contrast agents using diagnostic ultrasound imaging systems is proposed. Contrast agents, such as microbubbles, passing through a blood vessel during ultrasound imaging are detected as blinking signals in the temporal axis, because their intensity value is constantly in motion. Ultrasound contrast agents are detected by evaluating the intensity variation of a pixel in the temporal axis. Conventional methods are based on simple subtraction of ultrasound images to detect ultrasound contrast agents. Even if the subject moves only slightly, a conventional detection method will introduce significant error. In contrast, the proposed technique employs spatiotemporal analysis of the pixel intensity variation over several frames. Experiments visualizing blood vessels in the mouse tail illustrated that the proposed method performs efficiently compared with conventional approaches. We also report that the new technique is useful for observing temporal changes in microvessel density in subiliac lymph nodes containing tumors. The results are compared with those of contrast-enhanced computed tomography.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Information Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. Electronic address: ito@aoki.ecei.tohoku.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Information Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazumasa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Noro
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukari
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yanagisawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Diagnosis, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
authors.forename: Maya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Surgery, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
authors.forename: Shiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Iwate Medical University, Morioka, Iwate, Japan.
authors.forename: Kiyoto
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shiga
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kodama
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Information Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
authors.forename: Takafumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aoki
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001365:Axilla; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003287:Contrast Media; D007089:Image Enhancement; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D019463:Mice, Inbred MRL lpr; D055806:Microvessels / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014463:Ultrasonography
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media
keywords: Computer-aided diagnosis; Medical image; Ultrasound; Ultrasound contrast agent; Vessel density