In fluency on Refraction and Phase Cancellation Effect in Ultrasonic CT and its Correction

초음파 CT에서의 굴절 및 위상 상쇄 효과의 영향과 그 보정법

Although ultrasonic CT is one of the useful techniques for tissue characterization, the reconstructed images, such as the velocity distribution and attenuation constant distribution, are degraded by reflection and refraction of ultrasonic beam. This paper studied the degradation effects on attenuation images using agar gel phantoms which were developed to evaluate ultrasonic CT. We found that the reconstructed attenuation constants at the center of the phantoms were less than the actual values by 0.6 dB/cm when phantom velocity differs by 25 m/s from surrounding saline. We also studied a correction method for refraction and phase cancellation effects, where the correction was made using the maximum value in the received subdata, as obtained by sub-arraying microprobes located at each sampling point. Using this method, we could obtain an improvement in the reconstructed image by the correction on the attenuation effect.

초음파 CT는 tissue characterization을 위해 현재 유용한 기법으로 기시되고 있다. 그러나 이에 의해 재구성된 음속분포 및 감쇠·정교 분제는 초음파 빔의 반사, 굴절, 위상 상쇄 효과 등의 화상 열하요각으로 인해 그 단력상의 정량성 평가에 문제점이 존재한다. 이에, 본 논문은 먼저 초음파 CT 화상의 정량적 평가를 위해 개발한 한천(Agar) gel 팬텀을 이용하여 감표 정수 분포 화상 열하 요인을 검토했다. 그 결과, 팬텀 중앙부에서의 재구성 감쇠정교는, 주위매휴(식단수)영 음속차가 25m1s일 때, 실제치보다 약 0.6dB/cm 정도 작게 나타났다. 다음, 이의 보정법으로 수신용 마이크로프로브 어레이법에 대한 계산기 시뮬레이션 및 실험을 통해 그 유효성을 검토하고, 양호한 결과가 얻어짐을 밟혔다. Although ultrasonic CT is one of the useful techniques for tissue characterization, the reconstructed images, such as the velocity distribution and attenuation constant distribution, are degraded by reflection and refraction of ultrasonic beam. This paper studied the degradation effects on attenuation images using agar gel phantoms which were developed to evaluate ultrasonic CT. We found that the reconstructed attenuation constants at the center of the phantoms were less than the actual values by 0.6 dB/cm when phantom velocity differs by 25 m/s from surrounding saline. We also studied a correction method for refraction and phase cancellation effects, where the correction was made using the maximum value in the received subdata, as obtained by sub-arraying microprobes located at each sampling point. Using this method, we could obtain an improvement in the reconstructed image by the correction on the attenuation effect.