Freehand three-dimensional ultrasound: implementation and applications

S. Sherebrin; Aaron Fenster; Richard N. Rankin M.D.; David Spence

doi:10.1117/12.237790

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11 April 1996 Freehand three-dimensional ultrasound: implementation and applications

S. Sherebrin; Aaron Fenster; Richard N. Rankin M.D.; David Spence

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Proceedings Volume 2708, Medical Imaging 1996: Physics of Medical Imaging; (1996) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.237790
Event: Medical Imaging 1996, 1996, Newport Beach, CA, United States

Abstract

Three-dimensional ultrasound (3DUS) offers a valuable approach to many diagnostic imaging problems and provides a relatively low cost alternative to 3D imaging modalities such as MRI and CT. To obtain a 3DUS image, a clinical ultrasound scanner is used to produce a sequence of adjacent 'slices' of the region of interest, which are recorded and used to reconstruct a volume. The required location of each slice may be found either by a priori knowledge of the scan path (mechanized scanning) or by tracking the path of the transducer at scan time (freehand scanning). For some imaging applications the scan path is irregular, making mechanized scanning difficult or impossible. Some examples are: imaging vascular disease in the carotid arteries, joint imaging and obstetrics. We have developed a freehand 3DUS system that is capable of such imaging tasks. We used phantoms containing a wire and a 50% stenosed cylinder phantom to test our system for vascular applications. We found the mean error in locating any image plane to be less than 0.1 mm ((sigma) equals 0.05 mm), with minimal geometric distortion. The degree of stenosis of the phantom was measured from a reconstructed volume to be 52.6% ((sigma) equals 2%). We have started a clinical stenosis study and a pilot joint imaging study. Our clinical results indicate that measurement of stenosis in patients should be possible.

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S. Sherebrin, Aaron Fenster, Richard N. Rankin M.D., and David Spence "Freehand three-dimensional ultrasound: implementation and applications", Proc. SPIE 2708, Medical Imaging 1996: Physics of Medical Imaging, (11 April 1996); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.237790

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