Design And Experimental Research Of Three-Dimensional Ultrasound Imaging System Based On Pulse-Triggered Image Acquisition

There are lots of dimensional limitations in two-dimensional(2D)ultrasound imaging in spite of its irreplaceable status in modern medical diagnosis.For example,only the section information of tissue or organs can be shown in traditional 2D ultrasound images.However,these limitations can be compensated by three-dimensional(3D)ultrasound imaging technology which increases the amount of valuable information significantly in clinical ultrasound diagnosis.In recent years,3D ultrasound imaging has become a hot research topic.It is extremely convenient for researchers to study each stage of ultrasound imaging process and develop various innovative imaging technologies through the opening ultrasound platform produced by the Verasonics company,USA.However,the VerasonicsTM 3D imaging equipment is quite expensive and its imaging effect is unsatisfactoryTherefore,the primary purposes of this study are to make full use of the advantages of existing equipment in our laboratory to set up a 3D ultrasound imaging system,to design and implement the 3D ultrasound system using conventional Verasonics platform and linear array probe,and to verify the feasibility of the system which is of convenient operation and,low-cost.In this paper,we proposed a 3D ultrasound imaging system based on pulse-triggered image acquisition and the conventional Verasonics platform.Using mechanical scanning with the linear probe,the Verasonics platform would be controlled by pulses to acquire 2D image data.Having completed the scanning,the fast voxel-based reconstruction method is performed to finish the 3D reconstruction and 3D ultrasound image visualization.The 3D ultrasound imaging system consists of three modules:probe motion and pulse output,data acquisition and storage,3D reconstruction and display.In order to solve the problem of communication and cooperation among the three modules,and maintain the accuracy of 2D image acquisition,a programmable wave generator is introduced in this study.The wave generator would generate a series of fixed frequency pulses and transmit them to the Verasonics platform to control the acquisition of image data in combination with external trigger function of the platform.This paper mainly introduced the basic setting and output mode of pulses generated by the wave generator.And we made a thorough inquiry for the design and implementation processes of the 3D ultrasound imaging system based on pulse-triggered image acquisition,especially in the module of data acquisition and storage.To evaluate the function of each module in the proposed system,we did pulse waveform testing by the oscilloscope,general purpose ultrasound phantom scanning experiment and isolated chicken heart scanning experiment.The results show that each module of the system is functional.The system with the proposed modality achieved complete and high-quality 3D ultrasound imaging.Through the self-developed software of user interface,users can control the system conveniently to scan tissue or organs,acquire 2D and 3D images.In addition,the cost of this 3D ultrasound imaging system is much lower than the cost of purchasing a Verasonics 3D imaging equipment.On the other hand,extensive experience is accumulated and this study has laid a solid foundation for further 3D or 4D ultrasound imaging research and application.