Higher Order Singular Value Decomposition Filter for Contrast Echocardiography

Assessing the coronary circulation with contrast-enhanced echocardiography has high clinical relevance. However, it is not being routinely performed in clinical practice because the current clinical tools generally cannot provide adequate image quality. The contrast agent's visibility in the myocardium is generally poor, impaired by motion...

Independent Component Analysis Filter for Small Vessel Contrast Imaging During Fast Tissue Motion

Suppressing tissue clutter is an essential step in blood flow estimation and visualization, even when using ultrasound contrast agents. Blind source separation (BSS)-based clutter filter for high-framerate ultrasound imaging has been reported to perform better in tissue clutter suppression than the conventional frequency-based wall filter and...

Optimization of Microbubble Concentration and Acoustic Pressure for Left Ventricular High Frame Rate EchoPIV in Patients

High-frame-rate (HFR) echo-particle image velocimetry (echoPIV) is a promising tool for measuring intracardiac blood flow dynamics. In this study, we investigate the optimal ultrasound contrast agent (UCA: SonoVue) infusion rate and acoustic output to use for HFR echoPIV (PRF = 4900 Hz) in the left ventricle (LV) of patients. Three infusion...

A direct comparison of natural and acoustic-radiation-force-induced cardiac mechanical waves

Natural and active shear wave elastography (SWE) are potential ultrasound-based techniques to non-invasively assess myocardial stiffness, which could improve current diagnosis of heart failure. This study aims to bridge the knowledge gap between both techniques and discuss their respective impacts on cardiac stiffness evaluation. We recorded...

Contrast-Enhanced High-Frame-Rate Ultrasound Imaging of Flow Patterns in Cardiac Chambers and Deep Vessels

Cardiac function and vascular function are closely related to the flow of blood within. The flow velocities in these larger cavities easily reach 1 m/s, and generally complex spatiotemporal flow patterns are involved, especially in a non-physiologic state. Visualization of such flow patterns using ultrasound can be greatly enhanced by...

4-D Echo-Particle Image Velocimetry in a Left Ventricular Phantom

Left ventricular (LV) blood flow is an inherently complex time-varying 3-D phenomenon, where 2-D quantification often ignores the effect of out-of-plane motion. In this study, we describe high frame rate 4-D echocardiographic particle image velocimetry (echo-PIV) using a prototype matrix transesophageal transducer and a dynamic LV phantom for...

High Frame Rate Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound for Velocimetry in the Human Abdominal Aorta

Treatment of abdominal aortic (AA) aneurysms and stenotic lesions may be improved by analyzing their associated blood flow patterns. Angle-independent blood flow patterns in the AA can be obtained by combining echo-particle image velocimetry (ePIV) with high frame rate contrast-enhanced ultrasonography. However, ePIV performance is affected...