B-Mode Ultrasound Blood Flow Quantification via Speckle Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing blood flow imaging methods using Doppler ultrasound and contrast agents are limited by spatial resolution, sensitivity to user variability, and reliance on assumptions about flow direction, making them inadequate for accurate quantification of blood flow dynamics.
Innovation Solution
Utilizing multi-transmit, coherent image formation techniques in B-mode ultrasound to generate speckle patterns in blood regions, which are tracked over time to determine two or three-dimensional velocity vectors without the need for contrast agents, allowing for accurate quantification of blood flow parameters such as velocity, vorticity, and vortex characteristics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If Doppler ultrasound is used to measure blood velocity, then velocity measurement is achieved, but spatial resolution is reduced compared to B-mode anatomy imaging
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses speckle patterns as an intermediary to transfer information from blood flow to the imaging system. The speckle patterns, generated by coherent ultrasound imaging of red blood cells, serve as a mediator that enables velocity measurement while preserving the high spatial resolution of B-mode imaging, resolving the contradiction between velocity measurement capability and spatial resolution
2Reliability
If contrast agent imaging is used to track microbubbles, then blood flow visualization is improved, but the method becomes overly sensitive to user variability and image acquisition parameters
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables blood flow visualization using the patient's own blood components (red blood cells) as the imaging target. The coherent imaging technique naturally generates speckle patterns from the blood cells themselves, eliminating the need for external contrast agents and thereby removing the sensitivity to contrast agent injection timing and dosage that plagues conventional methods
3Loss of information
If Doppler ultrasound assumes conservation of mass to compute velocity vectors, then two or three-dimensional velocity vectors can be obtained, but the assumption is only valid under certain heart phases when net flow is small
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the indirect computational approach based on conservation of mass assumptions with a direct measurement approach. By tracking the displacement of speckle patterns between consecutive ultrasound frames, the system directly computes velocity vectors without relying on the conservation of mass assumption, thereby maintaining reliability across all heart phases including those with significant net flow
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables high-resolution, user-independent quantification of blood flow dynamics within the heart, providing accurate measurements of velocity vectors, streamline distribution, and vorticity without the need for contrast agents, thereby enhancing diagnostic accuracy for heart diseases.
Implementation Method 1
B-mode images generated with a multi-transmit, coherent image formation produce swirling or other speckle patterns in the blood regions
Implementation Method 2
B-mode images are generated with synthetic transmit aperture. The B-mode images include speckle for response from blood
Data Source
AI summary
For quantification of blood flow by an ultrasound system, B-mode images generated with a multi-transmit, coherent image formation produce swirling or other speckle patterns in the blood regions. These patterns, as represented in specially formed B-mode images, are tracked over time to indicate two or three-dimensional velocity vectors of the blood at a B-mode resolution. Various visualizations may be provided at the same resolution, including the velocity flow field, flow direction, vorticity, vortex size, vortex shape, and/or divergence.