Abstract
An aberration correction algorithm has been implemented and demonstrated
in an echocardiographic clinical trial using 2D imaging. The method
estimates and compensates arrival time errors between different sub-
aperture processor signals in a matrix array probe in post processing.
Five standard views of channel data cineloops were recorded from 22
patients. Using a coherence metric, the aberration correction algorithm
was shown to improve image quality in all 7380 processed frames. In a
blinded and left-right-randomized side-by-side evaluation, four
cardiologists (two experienced and two in training) preferred the
aberration corrected image in 97% of the cases. The feedback from the
clinicians was that the images appeared sharper with better contrast and
less noise. Many structures like valve leaflets, chordae, endocardium,
and endocardial borders appeared narrower and more clearly defined in
the aberration corrected images. An important finding is that aberration
correction improves contrast between the endocardium and ventricle
cavities for all processed images. This was confirmed by the
cardiologists in their feedback, and quantified with a median global
gain difference estimate between the aberration-corrected and non-
corrected images of 1.2 dB.