Ray-based inversion accounting for scattering for biomedical ultrasound computed tomography

TL;DR

This paper presents a ray-based inversion algorithm for ultrasound tomography that efficiently reconstructs sound speed distributions in soft tissue by incorporating scattering effects through a second-order iterative minimisation scheme, balancing accuracy and computational efficiency.

Contribution

It introduces a novel second-order iterative minimisation method that accounts for scattering in ultrasound tomography, improving accuracy over traditional time-of-flight approaches.

Findings

Accurately reconstructs sound speed in soft tissue

Incorporates scattering effects into inversion process

Reduces computational burden compared to full-wave methods

Abstract

An efficient and accurate image reconstruction algorithm for ultrasound tomography (UST) is described and demonstrated, which can recover accurate sound speed distribution from acoustic time series measurements made in soft tissue. The approach is based on a second-order iterative minimisation of the difference between the measurements and a model based on a ray-approximation to the heterogeneous Green's function. It overcomes the computational burden of full-wave solvers while avoiding the drawbacks of time-of-flight methods. Through the use of a second-order iterative minimisation scheme, applied stepwise from low to high frequencies, the effects of scattering are incorporated into the inversion.