Super-resolution Ultrasound Imaging

In super-resolution ultrasound (SR-US), we use contrast microbubbles (a) that are injected intravenously (b) to overcome the barrier of spatial resolution in ultrasound imaging. Contrast microbubbles were designed and fabricated to emulate red blood cells which travel around our body within the blood stream. Under high frame-rate ultrasound imaging and after signal processing (c-d), some microbubbles emerge as spatially isolated point targets, which we use to pinpoint the location of the microvessels as well as measuring their blood flow speed (e). The beauty of SR-US is that we gain in spatial resolution but do not lose the imaging depth of penetration (f-g). As shown in (h), SR-US also begins to fill the imaging penetration vs. resolution gap in the landscape of biomedical imaging. (Song P et al., Zeitschrift für Medizinische Physik (under review), 2023).

Our group is actively working in the domain of super-resolution ultrasound (SR-US) to make it a more capable and practical technology for both basic research and clinical applications. This diagram summarizes our existing research effort in the SR-US domain. Below you can find a list of publications from our lab that are associated with SR-US.

Related publications:

†Co-first author     *Corresponding author

  1. Song P*, Rubin JM, Lowerison MR, “Super-resolution Ultrasound: Is it Ready for Clinical Vascular Imaging,” Zeitschrift für Medizinische Physik (under review)
  2. Lowerison MR†, Chandra Sekaran N†, Dong Z, Chen X, You Q, Llano DA*, Song P*, “Super-resolution Ultrasound Imaging of Cerebrovascular Impairment in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease,” bioRxiv preprint.
  3. You Q, Lowerison MR, Shin Y, Chen X, ChandraSekaran NV, Dong Z, Llano DA, Anastasio MA, Song P*, “Contrast-free Super-resolution Doppler (CS-Doppler) Based on Deep Generative Neural Networks,” bioRxiv preprint.
  4. Chen X†, Lowerison MR†, Dong Z, Chandra Sekaran N, Huang C, Chen S, Llano DA, Song P*, “Localization Free Super-resolution Microbubble Velocimetry Using a Long Short-term Memory Neural Network,” bioRxiv preprint.
  5. Lok UW, Huang C, Trzasko JD, Kim Y, Lucien F, Tang S, Gong P, Song P, Chen S*, “Three-dimensional Ultrasound Localization Microscopy with Bipartite Graph-based Microbubble Pairing and Kalman-filtering-based Tracking on a 256-channel Verasonics Ultrasound System with a 32×32 Matrix Array.” Journal of Medical and Biological Engineering, (42), 767-779, 2022.
  6. Chen X, Lowerison MR, Dong Z, Han A, Song P*, “Deep Learning-based Microbubble Localization for Super-resolution Ultrasound Localization Microscopy,” IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, vol. 69, no. 4, pp. 1312-1325, 2022.
  7. You Q, Trzasko JD, Lowerison MR, Chen X, Dong Z, Vaithiyalingam ChandraSekaran N, Llano DA, Chen S, Song P*, “Curvelet Transform-based Sparsity Promoting Algorithm for Fast Ultrasound Localization Microscopy,” IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, vol. 41, no,. 9, pp 2385-2398, 2022. .
  8. Yi H, Lowerison MR, Song P, Zhang W*, “A Review of Clinical Applications for Super-resolution Ultrasound Localization Microscopy,” Current Medical Science, 42(1):1-16, 2022.
  9. Lowerison MR†, Chandrasekaran NV†, Zhang W, Dong Z, Chen X, Llano DA*, Song P*, “Aging-related Cerebral Microvascular Changes Visualized Using Ultrasound Localization Microscopy in the Living Mouse,” Scientific Reports 12:619, pp. 1-11, 2022.
  10. Lowerison MR, Zhang W, Chen X, Fan TM, Song P*, “Characterization of Anti-angiogenic Chemo-sensitization via Longitudinal Ultrasound Localization Microscopy in Colorectal Carcinoma Tumor Xenografts,” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 69, issue 4, pp. 1449-1460, 2022.
  11. Kim J, Lowerison MR, Chandra Sekaran N, Kou Z, Dong Z, Oelze ML, Llano DA, Song P*, “Improved Ultrasound Localization Microscopy based on Microbubble Uncoupling via Transmit Excitation (MUTE),” IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, vol. 69, issue 3, pp. 1041-1052, 2022.
  12. Chen X†, Lowerison MR†, Dong Z, Chandra Sekaran N, Huang C, Chen S, Llano DA, Song P*, “Localization Free Super-resolution Microbubble Velocimetry Using a Long Short-term Memory Neural Network,” bioRxiv preprint.
  13. Zhang W†, Lowerison MR†, Dong Z, Miller RJ, Keller KA, Song P*, “Super-resolution Ultrasound Localization Microscopy on a Rabbit Liver VX2 Tumor Model: an Initial Feasibility Study,” Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, vol. 47, issue 8, pp. 2416-2429, 2021.
  14. Huang C†, Zhang W†, Gong P, Lok UW, Tang S, Yin T, Zhang X, Zhu L, Sang M, Song P, Zheng R*, Chen S*, “Super-Resolution Ultrasound Localization Microscopy Based on a High Frame-rate Clinical Ultrasound Scanner: An In-human Feasibility Study,” Physics in Medicine and Biology, vol. 66, no. 8, 08NT01, 2021.
  15. Thomas AN, Song KH, Upadhyay A, Papadapolou V, Ramirez D, Benninger RKP, Lowerison MR, Song P, Murray T, Borden M*, “Contrast-enhanced Sonography with Biomimetic Lung Surfactant Nanodrops,” Langmuir, vol. 37, no. 7, pp. 2386-2396, 2021.
  16. Lowerison MR, Huang C, Kim Y, Lucien F, Chen S, Song P*, “In Vivo Confocal Imaging of Fluorescently Labelled Microbubbles: Implications for Ultrasound Localization Microscopy,” IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, vol. 67, no. 9, pp. 1811-1819, 2020.
  17. Huang C†, Lowerison MR†, Trzasko JD, Manduca A, Bresler Y, Tang S, Gong P, Lok UW, Song P*, Chen S*, “Short Acquisition Time Super-Resolution Ultrasound Microvessel Imaging via Microbubble Separation” Scientific Reports, (10):6007, 2020.
  18. Tang S†, Song P†, Trzasko JD, Manduca A, Huang C, Lowerison MR, Gong P, Lok UW, Chen S*, “Kalman Filter-Based Microbubble Tracking for Robust Super-Resolution Ultrasound Microvessel Imaging,” IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, vol. 67, no. 9, pp. 1738-1751, 2020.
  19. (Media coverage by Physics World) Lowerison MR†, Huang C†, Lucien F, Chen S*, Song P*, “Ultrasound localization microscopy of renal tumor xenografts in chicken embryo is correlated to hypoxia,” Scientific Reports, 10: 2478, 2020.
  20. Song P, Manduca A, Trzasko JD, Daigle RE, Chen S*, “On the Effects of Spatial Sampling Quantization in Super-Resolution Ultrasound Microvessel Imaging,” IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, vol. 65, issue 12, pp. 2264-2276, 2018.
  21. (Journal cover) Song P, Trzasko JD, Manduca A, Huang R, Kadirvel R, Kallmes DF, Chen S*, “Improved Super-Resolution Ultrasound Microvessel Imaging with Spatiotemporal Nonlocal Means Filtering and Bipartite Graph-Based Microbubble Tracking,” IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, vol. 65, issue 2, pp. 149-167, 2018.