A Robotic Ultrasound Scanner for Automatic Vessel Tracking and Three-Dimensional Reconstruction of B-Mode Images

IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2016 Jan;63(1):35-46. doi: 10.1109/TUFFC.2015.2499084. Epub 2015 Nov 9.

Abstract

Locating and evaluating the length and severity of a stenosis is very important for planning adequate treatment of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Conventional ultrasound (US) examination cannot provide maps of entire lower limb arteries in 3-D. We propose a prototype 3D-US robotic system with B-mode images, which is nonionizing, noninvasive, and is able to track and reconstruct a continuous segment of the lower limb arterial tree between the groin and the knee. From an initialized cross-sectional view of the vessel, automatic tracking was conducted followed by 3D-US reconstructions evaluated using Hausdorff distance, cross-sectional area, and stenosis severity in comparison with 3-D reconstructions with computed tomography angiography (CTA). A mean Hausdorff distance of 0.97 ± 0.46 mm was found in vitro for 3D-US compared with 3D-CTA vessel representations. To evaluate the stenosis severity in vitro, 3D-US reconstructions gave errors of 3%-6% when compared with designed dimensions of the phantom, which are comparable to 3D-CTA reconstructions, with 4%-13% errors. The in vivo system's feasibility to reconstruct a normal femoral artery segment of a volunteer was also investigated. These results encourage further ergonomic developments to increase the robot's capacity to represent lower limb vessels in the clinical context.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Femoral Artery / diagnostic imaging*
  • Humans
  • Imaging, Three-Dimensional / methods*
  • Male
  • Phantoms, Imaging
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Robotics / instrumentation*
  • Ultrasonography / instrumentation*
  • Ultrasonography / methods*