Deformation-Aware Robotic 3D Ultrasound

Tissue deformation in ultrasound (US) imaging leads to geometrical errors when measuring tissues due the pressure exerted by probes. Such has an even larger effect on 3D US volumes as correct compounding is limited inconsistent location and geometry. This work proposes a patient-specified stiffness-based method tissue deformations robotic acquisitions. To obtain model, palpation performed at sampling positions tissue. The contact force, images probe poses of procedure are recorded. force used estimate nonlinear stiffness. fed optical flow algorithm compute pixel displacement. Then pixel-wise under different forces characterized coupled quadratic regression. unseen trajectory for building volumes, interpolation based stiffness values computed positions. With recorded displacement could be corrected. was validated two blood vessel phantoms with results demonstrate that can effectively force-induced finally generate geometries.