Ultrasound imaging is used within numerous medical disciplines. Extensive and repeated training is needed for efficient use of the technology. Simulator training has been proposed as a complement to other training methods. Advantages of simulator training include access to a large number of normal and rare cases without the need for suitable volunteers and available ultrasound equipment. The imaging of soft tissue can be simulated by considering the interaction between the tissue and the ultrasound field. The objective of this study is to include these effects in real-time simulators. One previous approach has been to simulate a three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound volume off line, and then cross-section the volume in real time. This approach, however, does not take into account the anisotropic resolution of ultrasound imaging. If we assume that the average acoustical properties of tissues are slowly varying and that the speckle pattern is independent of the tissue, we show that ultrasound images can be simulated by multiplying a pre-simulated speckle image by an any-plane cross section of a 3D representation of an anatomy. Thus anisotropic resolution can be simulated in real time. The simulated images were compared to true ultrasound images of soft tissue. Since the speckle was simulated independently of the tissue, the most realistic results were obtained for still images, but the method was also satisfactory for moving images when speckle tracking between views was not important. The method is well applicable to ultrasound training simulators on low cost platforms.

Date Published: 12 March 2010
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 7629, Medical Imaging 2010: Ultrasonic Imaging, Tomography, and Therapy, 76290B (12 March 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.844436

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7629:
Medical Imaging 2010: Ultrasonic Imaging, Tomography, and Therapy
Jan D'hooge; Stephen A. McAleavey, Editor(s)