Reconstruction of three-dimensional blood vessel network using multiple ultrasound volumes constructed by weighted fusion between B-mode and Doppler-mode

We have previously proposed the use of acoustic microbubble delivery in blood vessels to improve the efficacy of acoustic targeted drug therapy. The technical requirement is the detailed visualization of the blood vessel network for navigation around a target such as a tumor. For this purpose, we have used three-dimensional (3D) Doppler-mode volumes to obtain the blood vessel structure. However, since reconstructed Doppler-mode volumes showed expansion and deficiency problems, we propose a new blood vessel network reconstruction method by fusing B-mode and Doppler-mode volumes, which were acquired simultaneously in the same coordinate space. First, we configured a spiral tube to quantitatively evaluate the degrees of expansion and deficiency in both volumes. From the analysis of the results, we established the weight coefficients varied with the angle between the tangent vector of the centerline in the volume and the direction of ultrasound propagation to correct the shape of each volume. Finally, using these coefficients, we fused the corrected Band D-volumes to reconstruct the shape of the spiral tube and human liver vessels. The results showed clear reproduction and reliable construction. We confirmed that the proposed method is effective for reconstructing human blood vessels.