Displacement Estimation in Ultrasound Elastography Using Pyramidal Convolutional Neural Network. 2020

Ali K Z Tehrani, and Hassan Rivaz

In this article, two novel deep learning methods are proposed for displacement estimation in ultrasound elastography (USE). Although convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been very successful for displacement estimation in computer vision, they have been rarely used for USE. One of the main limitations is that the radio frequency (RF) ultrasound data, which is crucial for precise displacement estimation, has vastly different frequency characteristics compared with images in computer vision. Top-rank CNN methods used in computer vision applications are mostly based on a multilevel strategy, which estimates finer resolution based on coarser ones. This strategy does not work well for RF data due to its large high-frequency content. To mitigate the problem, we propose modified pyramid warping and cost volume network (MPWC-Net) and RFMPWC-Net, both based on PWC-Net, to exploit information in RF data by employing two different strategies. We obtained promising results using networks trained only on computer vision images. In the next step, we constructed a large ultrasound simulation database and proposed a new loss function to fine-tune the network to improve its performance. The proposed networks and well-known optical flow networks as well as state-of-the-art elastography methods are evaluated using simulation, phantom, and in vivo data. Our two proposed networks substantially outperform current deep learning methods in terms of contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and strain ratio (SR). Also, the proposed methods perform similar to the state-of-the-art elastography methods in terms of CNR and have better SR by substantially reducing the underestimation bias.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007091 Image Processing, Computer-Assisted A technique of inputting two-dimensional or three-dimensional images into a computer and then enhancing or analyzing the imagery into a form that is more useful to the human observer. Biomedical Image Processing,Computer-Assisted Image Processing,Digital Image Processing,Image Analysis, Computer-Assisted,Image Reconstruction,Medical Image Processing,Analysis, Computer-Assisted Image,Computer-Assisted Image Analysis,Computer Assisted Image Analysis,Computer Assisted Image Processing,Computer-Assisted Image Analyses,Image Analyses, Computer-Assisted,Image Analysis, Computer Assisted,Image Processing, Biomedical,Image Processing, Computer Assisted,Image Processing, Digital,Image Processing, Medical,Image Processings, Medical,Image Reconstructions,Medical Image Processings,Processing, Biomedical Image,Processing, Digital Image,Processing, Medical Image,Processings, Digital Image,Processings, Medical Image,Reconstruction, Image,Reconstructions, Image
D008099 Liver A large lobed glandular organ in the abdomen of vertebrates that is responsible for detoxification, metabolism, synthesis and storage of various substances. Livers
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000077321 Deep Learning Supervised or unsupervised machine learning methods that use multiple layers of data representations generated by nonlinear transformations, instead of individual task-specific ALGORITHMS, to build and train neural network models. Hierarchical Learning,Learning, Deep,Learning, Hierarchical
D054459 Elasticity Imaging Techniques Non-invasive imaging methods based on the mechanical response of an object to a vibrational or impulsive force. It is used for determining the viscoelastic properties of tissue, and thereby differentiating soft from hard inclusions in tissue such as microcalcifications, and some cancer lesions. Most techniques use ultrasound to create the images - eliciting the response with an ultrasonic radiation force and/or recording displacements of the tissue by Doppler ultrasonography. ARFI Imaging,Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse Imaging,Elastograms,Elastography,Magnetic Resonance Elastography,Sonoelastography,Tissue Elasticity Imaging,Vibro-Acoustography,ARFI Imagings,Elasticity Imaging Technique,Elasticity Imaging, Tissue,Elasticity Imagings, Tissue,Elastogram,Elastographies,Elastographies, Magnetic Resonance,Elastography, Magnetic Resonance,Imaging Technique, Elasticity,Imaging Techniques, Elasticity,Imaging, ARFI,Imaging, Tissue Elasticity,Imagings, ARFI,Imagings, Tissue Elasticity,Magnetic Resonance Elastographies,Resonance Elastographies, Magnetic,Resonance Elastography, Magnetic,Sonoelastographies,Technique, Elasticity Imaging,Techniques, Elasticity Imaging,Tissue Elasticity Imagings,Vibro Acoustography,Vibro-Acoustographies
D019047 Phantoms, Imaging Devices or objects in various imaging techniques used to visualize or enhance visualization by simulating conditions encountered in the procedure. Phantoms are used very often in procedures employing or measuring x-irradiation or radioactive material to evaluate performance. Phantoms often have properties similar to human tissue. Water demonstrates absorbing properties similar to normal tissue, hence water-filled phantoms are used to map radiation levels. Phantoms are used also as teaching aids to simulate real conditions with x-ray or ultrasonic machines. (From Iturralde, Dictionary and Handbook of Nuclear Medicine and Clinical Imaging, 1990) Phantoms, Radiographic,Phantoms, Radiologic,Radiographic Phantoms,Radiologic Phantoms,Phantom, Radiographic,Phantom, Radiologic,Radiographic Phantom,Radiologic Phantom,Imaging Phantom,Imaging Phantoms,Phantom, Imaging

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