Fusion of 2D B-mode images for the enhancement of the abdominal aorta

Non-invasive imaging is currently applied in diagnosing and monitoring of abdominal aortic aneurysms. However, the quality of the images and especially the visibility of the vessel wall are not optimal for wall stress analysis of or strain imaging. In this study, enhancement of the aortic wall by compounding of different images was investigated. In healthy subjects, three images of the abdominal aorta obtained at different angles were combined using three different types of compounding. This pilot study revealed that the contrast of the vessel wall was enhanced significantly with respect to the lumen.