We describe the concept of a new imaging modality based on the tracking and dynamic modeling of local intensity changes (ICs) observed in conventional ultrasound images collected during a medium-temperature change. We computed the pixel-by-pixel IC from averaged B-mode images that exhibited different behaviors with varying temperature resulting from changes in the speed of sound, which consequently induce changes in the backscattered energy. Moreover, for each pixel, a first-order polynomial model was adjusted to the different temperature-dependent ICs. The representation of the polynomial angular parameter in 2D pixel space was used to obtain a parametric image. The results obtained by simulations and with real B-mode images indicated that this new ultrasound imaging modality was able to enhance the contrast and highlight structures that were poorly visible or even undetected in conventional images. A temperature change of 3°C was found to be sufficient to generate appropriate images with the proposed method. In addition, if a temperature change of 6°C was considered, the thermal dose, measured as the cumulative number of equivalent minutes at 43°C (CEM43°C), was 2.4 CEM43°C, which is a value that is considered safe according to the literature. We provide a proof-of-concept of a new imaging modality that opens new opportunities for the enhancement of ultrasound images and consequently contributes to improvements in ultrasound-based diagnoses. Our approach is based on images returned by commercial ultrasound scanners. Therefore, it can be implemented in any ultrasound system and is independent of specific ultrasound hardware and software data acquisition characteristics.

中文翻译：

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中温变化富集超声成像的可行性

我们描述了一种新的成像模式的概念，它基于在中等温度变化期间收集的传统超声图像中观察到的局部强度变化 (IC) 的跟踪和动态建模。我们根据平均 B 模式图像计算了逐像素 IC，这些图像随着声速的变化而表现出不同的温度，从而导致反向散射能量的变化。此外，对于每个像素，一阶多项式模型会根据不同的温度相关 IC 进行调整。多项式角度参数在二维像素空间中的表示用于获得参数图像。通过模拟和真实 B 模式图像获得的结果表明，这种新的超声成像模式能够增强对比度并突出传统图像中不可见甚至未检测到的结构。发现 3°C 的温度变化足以使用所提出的方法生成适当的图像。此外，如果考虑 6°C 的温度变化，以 43°C (CEM43°C) 的累积等效分钟数测量的热剂量为 2.4 CEM43°C，这是一个被认为是安全的值根据文献。我们提供了一种新成像模式的概念验证，它为增强超声图像开辟了新的机会，从而有助于改进基于超声的诊断。我们的方法基于商业超声扫描仪返回的图像。因此，它可以在任何超声系统中实现，并且独立于特定的超声硬件和软件数据采集特性。