3D ultrasound imaging of tissue anisotropy using spatial coherence: Comparison between plane waves and diverging waves

After a myocardium infarction, cell loss is irremediable leading to a progressive local disorganization and change in the tissue structure altering heart function. An imaging method able to render the local tissue directivity would be a powerful tool to characterize the extent of the lesion. In this field, diffusion MRI is the reference. Because of its long acquisition time and the difficulty to tackle organ motion, faster imaging strategies such as ultrasound, are mandatory for such clinical applications. One of them is the spatial coherence of US waves, already developed in focused and plane waves (2D and 3D) but never in diverging waves [Papadacci, UFFC 2014]. The advantage of diverging waves is to create an image with a higher field of view, which is more appropriate to in vivo cardiac applications. The purpose of this work is to use 2D spatial coherence to determine the fibers orientation and to compare results in 3D steered plane and diverging waves.