Velocity estimation using recursive ultrasound imaging and spatially encoded signals

Previously we have presented a recursive beamforming algorithm for synthetic transmit aperture focusing. At every emission a beamformed low-resolution image is added to an existing high-resolution one, and the low-resolution image from the previous emission with the current active element is subtracted yielding a new frame at every pulse emission. In this paper the method is extended to blood velocity estimation, where a new color flow mapping (CFM) image is created after every pulse emission. The underlying assumption is that the velocity is constant between two pulse emissions and the current estimates can therefore be used for compensation of the motion artifacts in the data acquired in the next emission. Two different transmit strategies are investigated in this paper: (a) using a single defocused active aperture in transmit, and (b) emitting with all active transmit sub-apertures at the same time using orthogonal spatial encoding signals. The method was applied on data recorded by an experimental system. The estimates of the blood velocity for both methods had a bias less than 3% and a standard deviation around 2% making them a feasible approach for blood velocity estimations