TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of frequency and bandwidth on diagnostic information transfer in ultrasonic B-Mode imaging
AU - Abbey, Craig K.
AU - Nguyen, Nghia Q.
AU - Insana, Michael F.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by the U.s. national Institutes of Health Grant r01-ca118294. The authors are grateful to Prof. W. d. o’Brien, Jr., University of Illinois at Urbana-champaign, for insight into regulatory practice.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Transmitted pressure pulses in ultrasonic Bmode imaging systems are commonly characterized by their center frequency and bandwidth. Both parameters are associated with tradeoffs in spatial resolution and signal-to-noise in ultrasonic system design, with no general understanding of where they are optimal when applied to specific clinical exams. We use the ideal observer and simple psychophysical studies with human observers to evaluate the efficiency of information transfer in B-mode imaging as a function of the transmitted pulse center frequency and fractional bandwidth. Our approach uses a statistical model of backscatter relevant to breast imaging, and a 2-D model of pulse propagation based on Rayleigh-Sommerfeld diffraction theory. The statistics of the backscattered signal are combined in an ideal observer calculation that quantifies the task-relevant information contained in the radio-frequency (RF) signal after delay-andsum beamforming. This is followed by a psychophysical evaluation of observer performance on B-mode envelope-detected images in three simple tasks. This experimental design allows us to track the flow of diagnostic information through RF acquisition and subsequent reading of the envelope image. In a low-contrast detection task and a high-contrast boundary discrimination task, optimal efficiency for human observers is observed at the highest center frequencies tested (15 MHz) and at moderate bandwidth (40%). For detection of scattering material in a high-contrast hypoechoic lesion, optimal efficiency was observed at lower center frequencies (5 MHz) and higher bandwidth (80%). The ideal observer analysis shows that this task dependence does not arise in the acquisition stage, where efficiency is maximized at 15 MHz with bandwidths of 60% or greater, but rather in the subsequent processing and reading of the envelope image. In addition, at higher frequencies more information is lost in the processing and reading than in the acquisition of reflected signals.
AB - Transmitted pressure pulses in ultrasonic Bmode imaging systems are commonly characterized by their center frequency and bandwidth. Both parameters are associated with tradeoffs in spatial resolution and signal-to-noise in ultrasonic system design, with no general understanding of where they are optimal when applied to specific clinical exams. We use the ideal observer and simple psychophysical studies with human observers to evaluate the efficiency of information transfer in B-mode imaging as a function of the transmitted pulse center frequency and fractional bandwidth. Our approach uses a statistical model of backscatter relevant to breast imaging, and a 2-D model of pulse propagation based on Rayleigh-Sommerfeld diffraction theory. The statistics of the backscattered signal are combined in an ideal observer calculation that quantifies the task-relevant information contained in the radio-frequency (RF) signal after delay-andsum beamforming. This is followed by a psychophysical evaluation of observer performance on B-mode envelope-detected images in three simple tasks. This experimental design allows us to track the flow of diagnostic information through RF acquisition and subsequent reading of the envelope image. In a low-contrast detection task and a high-contrast boundary discrimination task, optimal efficiency for human observers is observed at the highest center frequencies tested (15 MHz) and at moderate bandwidth (40%). For detection of scattering material in a high-contrast hypoechoic lesion, optimal efficiency was observed at lower center frequencies (5 MHz) and higher bandwidth (80%). The ideal observer analysis shows that this task dependence does not arise in the acquisition stage, where efficiency is maximized at 15 MHz with bandwidths of 60% or greater, but rather in the subsequent processing and reading of the envelope image. In addition, at higher frequencies more information is lost in the processing and reading than in the acquisition of reflected signals.
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U2 - 10.1109/TUFFC.2012.2302
DO - 10.1109/TUFFC.2012.2302
M3 - Article
C2 - 22711407
AN - SCOPUS:84860778690
SN - 0885-3010
VL - 59
SP - 1115
EP - 1126
JO - IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control
JF - IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control
IS - 6
M1 - 6217560
ER -