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KMID : 1147120140200010045
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Journal of the Korean Society of Imaging Informatics in Medicine
2014 Volume.20 No. 1 p.45 ~ p.52
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Computer-aided Image Quality Evaluation of Ultrasound Imaging Systems
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Jin Hyeong-Min
Lee Myung-Eun
Kim Jong-Hyo
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Abstract
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Background : Ultrasound imaging is a powerful tool which provides non-invasive and non-ionizing radiation imaging diagnosis, and yet objective criteria have not yet been fully developed in image quality assessment. This study presents a quantitative method for assessing the image quality, and compares the results in three different ultrasound imaging systems.
Materials and Methods: A multi-purpose phantom (Gammex RMI, Middleton, WI) and Triple Modality 3D Abdominal Phantom (CIRS, Norfolk, VA) was scanned with three different ultrasound systems (E-CUBE 15, Alpinion, iU22 xMATRIX, Philips, Aplio XG, Toshiba) at base band mode and harmonic mode. The modulation transfer function (MTF), noise power spectrum (NPS) and contrast to noise ratio (CNR), indicating spatial resolution, noise and lesion detectability, respectively, were used for the image quality evaluation. Two-dimensional MTF which represents axial and lateral resolution, was measured on the pins located in the axial direction. Two-dimensional was computed from the 2D Fourier transform on two background ROIs, one is for near field and the other is for far field, to determine the varying noise patterns depending on depth. Contrast-to-Noise ratio was calculated on the objects which were automatically segmented with deformable model.
Results: The spatial resolution was preserved at near field in B-mode, but the 2D MTF graphs were degraded in high frequency, especially lateral resolution in far field for the three systems. Vendor A produced lowest noise magnitude with round shape of NPS at the focus point in harmonic mode.
Conclusion: Our study presents the feasibility of using objective metric on clinical evaluation of ultrasound image quality in three different ultrasound imaging systems. The objective metrics could improve the accuracy of image quality prediction in ultrasound imaging.
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KEYWORD
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Ultrasonography, Modulation Transfer Function(MTF), Noise Power Spectrum(NPS), Image Quality, Qualit
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