Live high-frame-rate echocardiography

We describe an advanced real-time high-speed echocardiographic system with live display while scanning. Images are acquired at rates up to 1000 per second for adult cardiac applications and are stored in computer memory. Images may be played back in slow motion or frame by frame to analyze cardiac motion at the millisecond time scale. Images are acquired using the T5 Duke University Phased Array Scanner that allows 32:1 hardware parallel processing in receive and uses a defocused transmit beam. Clinical scans of 70 patients at rates of 240 to 1000 fps showed adequate image quality for diagnostic purpose. We anticipate that high temporal resolution cardiac images will enable the realization of more accurate and new quantitative descriptors of cardiac function in disease and health.

[1]  Piero Tortoli,et al.  Implementation of parallel transmit beamforming using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing-achievable resolution and interbeam interference , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control.

[2]  O.T. von Ramm,et al.  Interactive volume rendering of real-time three-dimensional ultrasound images , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[3]  F L Thurstone,et al.  Cardiac Imaging Using a Phased Array Ultrasound System: I. System Design , 1976, Circulation.

[4]  F L Thurstone,et al.  Cardiac Imaging Using a Phased Array Ultrasound System: II. Clinical Technique and Application , 1976, Circulation.

[5]  Hiroshi Kanai,et al.  High-frame-rate echocardiography using diverging transmit beams and parallel receive beamforming , 2011, Journal of Medical Ultrasonics.

[6]  Piero Tortoli,et al.  Multi-Transmit Beam Forming for Fast Cardiac Imaging—Experimental Validation and In Vivo Application , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[7]  Mickael Tanter,et al.  Ultrafast imaging in biomedical ultrasound , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control.

[8]  Mickael Tanter,et al.  High-contrast ultrafast imaging of the heart , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control.

[9]  Raoul Mallart,et al.  Improved imaging rate through simultaneous transmission of several ultrasound beams , 1992, SPIE Optics + Photonics.

[10]  Alessandro Ramalli,et al.  In vitro and in vivo tissue harmonic images obtained with parallel transmit beamforming by means of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing , 2015 .

[11]  E. Konofagou,et al.  A clinical feasibility study of atrial and ventricular electromechanical wave imaging. , 2013, Heart rhythm.

[12]  E. Konofagou,et al.  Electromechanical wave imaging for noninvasive mapping of the 3D electrical activation sequence in canines and humans in vivo. , 2012, Journal of biomechanics.

[13]  Marc D Weinshenker,et al.  Explososcan: a parallel processing technique for high speed ultrasound imaging with linear phased arrays. , 1984 .

[14]  Motonao Tanaka,et al.  Minute Mechanical-Excitation Wave-Front Propagation in Human Myocardial Tissue , 2011 .

[15]  E. Konofagou,et al.  Noninvasive electromechanical wave imaging and conduction-relevant velocity estimation in vivo. , 2010, Ultrasonics.

[16]  Tore Bjastad,et al.  Ultra-high frame rate tissue Doppler imaging. , 2014, Ultrasound in medicine & biology.

[17]  E. W. Hancock,et al.  AHA/ACCF/HRS recommendations for the standardization and interpretation of the electrocardiogram: part VI: acute ischemia/infarction: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association Electrocardiography and Arrhythmias Committee, Council on Clinical Cardiology; the American College of Card , 2009, Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

[18]  N. Trayanova,et al.  Mapping of cardiac electrical activation with electromechanical wave imaging: an in silico-in vivo reciprocity study. , 2011, Heart rhythm.

[19]  Maja Cikes,et al.  Ultrafast cardiac ultrasound imaging: technical principles, applications, and clinical benefits. , 2014, JACC. Cardiovascular imaging.

[20]  Hon Fai Choi,et al.  Comparison of conventional parallel beamforming with plane wave and diverging wave imaging for cardiac applications: a simulation study , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[21]  Andrew Needles,et al.  Ultrahigh frame rate retrospective ultrasound microimaging and blood flow visualization in mice in vivo. , 2006, Ultrasound in medicine & biology.

[22]  M. Fink,et al.  Ultrafast imaging of the heart using circular wave synthetic imaging with phased arrays , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium.

[23]  E. Konofagou,et al.  11B-1 Noninvasive Electromechanical Wave Imaging and Conduction Velocity Estimation In Vivo , 2007, 2007 IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium Proceedings.