中国物理B ›› 2025, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (4): 44301-044301.doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/adb390

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Multi-parameter ultrasound imaging for musculoskeletal tissues based on a physics informed generative adversarial network

Pengxin Wang(王鹏鑫)1, Heyu Ma(马贺雨)1, Tianyu Liu(刘天宇)1, Chengcheng Liu(刘成成)1,2,†, Dan Li(李旦)3, and Dean Ta(他得安)2,4   

  1. 1 Institute of Biomedical Engineering & Technology, Academy for Engineering and Technology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
    2 State Key Laboratory of Integrated Chips and Systems, Fudan University, Shanghai 201203, China;
    3 Department of Electronic Engineering, School of Information Science and Technology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China;
    4 Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Information Science and Technology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
  • 收稿日期:2025-01-07 修回日期:2025-01-27 接受日期:2025-02-07 出版日期:2025-04-15 发布日期:2025-04-15
  • 通讯作者: Chengcheng Liu E-mail:chengchengliu@fudan.edu.cn
  • 基金资助:
    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12122403 and 12327807).

Multi-parameter ultrasound imaging for musculoskeletal tissues based on a physics informed generative adversarial network

Pengxin Wang(王鹏鑫)1, Heyu Ma(马贺雨)1, Tianyu Liu(刘天宇)1, Chengcheng Liu(刘成成)1,2,†, Dan Li(李旦)3, and Dean Ta(他得安)2,4   

  1. 1 Institute of Biomedical Engineering & Technology, Academy for Engineering and Technology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
    2 State Key Laboratory of Integrated Chips and Systems, Fudan University, Shanghai 201203, China;
    3 Department of Electronic Engineering, School of Information Science and Technology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China;
    4 Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Information Science and Technology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
  • Received:2025-01-07 Revised:2025-01-27 Accepted:2025-02-07 Online:2025-04-15 Published:2025-04-15
  • Contact: Chengcheng Liu E-mail:chengchengliu@fudan.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12122403 and 12327807).

摘要: Full waveform inversion (FWI) has showed great potential in the detection of musculoskeletal disease. However, FWI is an ill-posed inverse problem and has a high requirement on the initial model during the imaging process. An inaccurate initial model may lead to local minima in the inversion and unexpected imaging results caused by cycle-skipping phenomenon. Deep learning methods have been applied in musculoskeletal imaging, but need a large amount of data for training. Inspired by work related to generative adversarial networks with physical informed constrain, we proposed a method named as bone ultrasound imaging with physics informed generative adversarial network (BUIPIGAN) to achieve unsupervised multi-parameter imaging for musculoskeletal tissues, focusing on speed of sound (SOS) and density. In the in-silico experiments using a ring array transducer, conventional FWI methods and BUIPIGAN were employed for multi-parameter imaging of two musculoskeletal tissue models. The results were evaluated based on visual appearance, structural similarity index measure (SSIM), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and relative error (RE). For SOS imaging of the tibia-fibula model, the proposed BUIPIGAN achieved accurate SOS imaging with best performance. The specific quantitative metrics for SOS imaging were SSIM 0.9573, SNR 28.70 dB, and RE 5.78%. For the multi-parameter imaging of the tibia-fibula and human forearm, the BUIPIGAN successfully reconstructed SOS and density distributions with SSIM above 94%, SNR above 21 dB, and RE below 10%. The BUIPIGAN also showed robustness across various noise levels (i.e., 30 dB, 10 dB). The results demonstrated that the proposed BUIPIGAN can achieve high-accuracy SOS and density imaging, proving its potential for applications in musculoskeletal ultrasound imaging.

关键词: ultrasound image, physics informed, generative adversarial network, musculoskeletal imaging

Abstract: Full waveform inversion (FWI) has showed great potential in the detection of musculoskeletal disease. However, FWI is an ill-posed inverse problem and has a high requirement on the initial model during the imaging process. An inaccurate initial model may lead to local minima in the inversion and unexpected imaging results caused by cycle-skipping phenomenon. Deep learning methods have been applied in musculoskeletal imaging, but need a large amount of data for training. Inspired by work related to generative adversarial networks with physical informed constrain, we proposed a method named as bone ultrasound imaging with physics informed generative adversarial network (BUIPIGAN) to achieve unsupervised multi-parameter imaging for musculoskeletal tissues, focusing on speed of sound (SOS) and density. In the in-silico experiments using a ring array transducer, conventional FWI methods and BUIPIGAN were employed for multi-parameter imaging of two musculoskeletal tissue models. The results were evaluated based on visual appearance, structural similarity index measure (SSIM), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and relative error (RE). For SOS imaging of the tibia-fibula model, the proposed BUIPIGAN achieved accurate SOS imaging with best performance. The specific quantitative metrics for SOS imaging were SSIM 0.9573, SNR 28.70 dB, and RE 5.78%. For the multi-parameter imaging of the tibia-fibula and human forearm, the BUIPIGAN successfully reconstructed SOS and density distributions with SSIM above 94%, SNR above 21 dB, and RE below 10%. The BUIPIGAN also showed robustness across various noise levels (i.e., 30 dB, 10 dB). The results demonstrated that the proposed BUIPIGAN can achieve high-accuracy SOS and density imaging, proving its potential for applications in musculoskeletal ultrasound imaging.

Key words: ultrasound image, physics informed, generative adversarial network, musculoskeletal imaging

中图分类号:  (Acoustic imaging, displays, pattern recognition, feature extraction)

  • 43.60.Lq
43.80.Qf (Medical diagnosis with acoustics) 43.35.Wa (Biological effects of ultrasound, ultrasonic tomography) 87.63.dh (Ultrasonographic imaging)