Multi-line transmission for 3D ultrasound imaging: An experimental study

Achieving a high frame rate in echocardiography is highly important for quantifying the short phases of the cardiac cycle that contain valuable information for medical diagnosis. Additionally, the 3D quantitative assessment of the heart would significantly improve the current measurements used in daily clinical routine. Nevertheless obtaining ultrafast images remains a challenge due to the trade-off between the image quality and a high frame rate, especially when volumetric data is acquired. Among the current ultrafast imaging methods, multi-linetransmit imaging (MLT) provides an increased frame rate but in the same time mostly preserves the image quality. In this paper we present the first real-time experimental implementation of the MLT in 3D ultrasound. The results indicate the potential of 3D MLT for achieving high contrast and resolution while increasing the frame rate. This study thus demonstrates the feasibility of 3D MLT in real-time and extends its possible applications to dynamic cardiac imaging.