Improved Row-Column-Addressed Array Imaging by Leveraging Ghost Echoes

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel postfiltering method that leverages ghost echoes in RCA ultrasound arrays to suppress artifacts and improve lateral resolution in 3-D imaging.

Contribution

It presents a new approach that uses ghost echoes, typically considered artifacts, as supportive signals to enhance image quality in RCA array imaging.

Findings

Ghost artifact suppression of 23 dB achieved

Lateral resolution improved from 1.06 mm to 0.81 mm

Method effectively reduces ghost artifacts and enhances resolution

Abstract

Among various choices of 2-D ultrasound transducer arrays, the row-column-addressed (RCA) 2-D array has shown its promise for 3-D imaging. However, RCA suffers from notable edge effects and thus receives ghost echoes, which result in ghost artifacts showing in the volumetric image. In this research, rather than discarding these ghost echoes, we consider them as supportive signals and incorporate them into a postfiltering-based method to enhance the RCA imaging quality. Field II simulation and results of a single scatterer are presented in this work. The strongest ghost artifact is suppressed by 23 dB and the -6 dB lateral resolution is improved from 1.06 to 0.81 mm. The proposed method shows promising results in suppressing ghost artifacts and enhancing lateral resolution.