Fast simulation of ultrasound images from a CT volume
Résumé
The goal of our work is to propose a fast ultrasound images simulation from an abdominal CT volume. This method is based on a model elaborate by Bamber and Dickinson that predict the appearance and properties of a B-Scan ultrasound image from the distribution of point scatterers. However the main assumption of this method is that the US pulse and beam shape are assumed invariant. So this model can only be applied on small regions of interest. We propose to extend this model for abdominal ultrasound image simulation by taking into account the acoustical tissues properties and the geometry and the characteristics of the ultrasound probe (circular probe, transducers number and size, US pulse frequency and bandwidth, etc.). Simulations have been obtained in a fairly fast computation speed and qualitatively they present most of the real ultrasound images characteristics.