A fast hybrid algorithm combining regularized motion tracking and predictive search for reducing the occurrence of large displacement errors

• Published in: IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control Vol. 58; no. 4; pp. 730 - 736
• Main Authors: Jingfeng Jiang, Hall, T J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.04.2011; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: Algorithms; Biological and medical sciences; Breast; Cardiovascular system; Computer Simulation; Correlation; Female; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted - instrumentation; In vivo; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Lesions; Medical sciences; Motion; Speckle; Strain; Tracking; Ultrasonic investigative techniques; Motion estimation; Speckle; Large displacement; Malignant tumor; Mean value; Fast algorithm; Real time; Cancer; Block matching
• ISSN: 0885-3010; 1525-8955; 1525-8955
• DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2011.1865

A hybrid approach that inherits both the robustness of the regularized motion tracking approach and the efficiency of the predictive search approach is reported. The basic idea is to use regularized speckle tracking to obtain high-quality seeds in an explorative search that can be used in the subsequent intelligent predictive search. The performance of the hybrid speckle-tracking algorithm was compared with three published speckle-tracking methods using in vivo breast lesion data. We found that the hybrid algorithm provided higher displacement quality metric values, lower root mean squared errors compared with a locally smoothed displacement field, and higher improvement ratios compared with the classic block-matching algorithm. On the basis of these comparisons, we concluded that the hybrid method can further enhance the accuracy of speckle tracking compared with its real-time counterparts, at the expense of slightly higher computational demands.