用积分法替代梯度计算,提升超声显微成像运动校正效率
Efficient Image Registration for Ultrasound Localization Microscopy by Obtaining Gradients via Integration Across Iterations

- 通过迭代积分扰动信号获取下降方向,避免显式求导
- 计算成本降低3.5倍,定位精度达219微米,优于321微米衍射极限
- 适合需要高帧率、低延迟的超声动态成像应用
组织运动校正是超声定位显微成像(ULM)的关键步骤。传统参数化图像配准通常将运动参数迭代优化以最大化图像相似性,依赖梯度信息,而显式计算梯度代价高昂。本文提出使用极值寻求控制(ESC)替代显式求导,在每轮迭代中通过积分扰动后的图像相似性指标获得下降方向,无需对运动参数求导。在基于离体猪心搏动数据的仿真实验中,经典ESC与梯度下降(GD)性能相当,但每轮计算成本降低约3.5倍。进一步应用于两阶段运动校正流程:先进行仿射配准校正全局运动,再用B样条配准处理局部形变。该方法在离体猪心的ULM成像中实现了219微米的空间分辨率,显著低于2.4 MHz发散波成像的半波长衍射极限(321微米)。结果表明,ESC为ULM图像配准提供了有效替代方案,支持精确运动校正与高质量超分辨成像。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Tissue motion correction through image registration is essential for ultrasound localization microscopy (ULM). Parametric image registration is commonly formulated as an optimization problem where motion parameters are iteratively updated to maximize image similarity, and used optimization algorithms typically rely on gradient information, the explicit evaluation of which can become computationally demanding. This work investigates Extremum Seeking Control (ESC) as an alternative to explicit derivative evaluation in image registration. By obtaining descent information via integrating perturbed and demodulated image similarity metric across iterations, ESC avoids differentiation of the image similarity metric with respect to motion parameters in each iteration. The classical ESC, whose optimization behavior approximates that of classical gradient descent (GD), is first compared with GD for affine image registration using simulated ground-truth motions derived from a beating ex vivo porcine heart dataset. The results show that ESC achieves registration accuracy and convergence behavior comparable to GD while reducing per-iteration computational cost by approximately 3.5-fold. ESC is subsequently employed in a two-stage motion correction pipeline, where affine registration compensates for global tissue motion and B-spline registration corrects residual local deformation. The proposed method is applied to ULM imaging of a beating ex vivo porcine heart and achieves a spatial resolution of 219 um, substantially below the half-wavelength diffraction limit of 321 um associated with 2.4 MHz diverging-wave imaging. These results demonstrate that ESC provides an effective alternative to explicit derivative evaluation in ULM image registration, enabling accurate motion correction and high-quality super-resolution imaging.
Thank you to arXiv for use of its open access interoperability. PaperDance 不是 arXiv 官方产品;中文卡片由大模型生成,请以原文为准。