Frame accumulation method with motion compensation for high-contrast vascular imaging in artery phase

Frame accumulation method with motion compensation (FAMC), a method of accumulating frames with motion measurement and compensation in successive frames using small subregions was conducted to improve image quality of vascular image. In our previous study, FAMC clearly visualized vascular with contrast agents without image blurring even when the target tissue was moving except in artery phase^[1l In artery phase, motion measurement is difficult because the image pattern drastically changes in each frame. The purpose of this study is to improve FAMC method for high-contrast vascular imaging in artery phase. In our new approach, first of all, tissue-enhancing image was constructed by subtracting received signals on pulse-inversion and used for motion measurement. Then frame accumulation was performed using the vascular image, which obtained by summing received signals, while compensating tissue motion corresponding to the result of motion measurement. The improved FAMC was applied to rabbit liver with Sonazoid®, a commercially available microbubble contrast agent. Comparing FAMC images obtained with motion measurement based on vascular image and tissue image, artifact caused by the error measurement of tissue motion could be reduced in FAMC image with tissue-image based motion measurement, and vascularity in artery phase could be clearly imaged.