Method and system for imaging a volume of tissue with tissue boundary detection

1. A method for imaging a volume of tissue and defining a boundary of the volume of tissue using an ultrasound transducer array comprising a set of emitter-receiver pairs, the method comprising:

acquiring a baseline dataset and a reconstruction dataset with the ultrasound transducer array, wherein the baseline dataset is representative of a first set of signals interacting with a medium without the volume of tissue present in the medium and the reconstruction dataset is representative of a second set of signals interacting with the medium and the volume of tissue present in the medium;

receiving the baseline dataset from the set of emitter-receiver pairs;

receiving the reconstruction dataset from the set of emitter-receiver pairs;

generating a set of similarity metrics, each similarity metric comparing a first metric of the baseline dataset, associated with an emitter-receiver pair from the set of emitter-receiver pairs, with a second metric of the reconstruction dataset, associated with the emitter-receiver pair;

based upon the set of similarity metrics, determining a set of direct emitter-receiver pairs, wherein each direct emitter-receiver pair in the set of direct emitter-receiver pairs defines a direct trajectory that does not pass through the volume of tissue;

from the set of direct emitter-receiver pairs, determining a set of tangential emitter-receiver pairs, wherein each tangential emitter-receiver pair in the set of tangential emitter-receiver pairs defines a bounding vector comprising a tangent point along the boundary; and

transforming the reconstruction dataset into an image rendering, based upon reconstruction of a set of interior pixels of the reconstruction dataset, that are within the boundary.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the baseline dataset and the reconstruction dataset comprise receiving the baseline dataset and the reconstruction dataset at an ultrasound emitter array, configured to surround a scan region for the volume of tissue and emit acoustic signals toward the scan region, and an ultrasound receiver array, configured to surround the scan region and receive acoustic signals from the scan region.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the set of similarity metrics, comprises:

for each emitter-receiver pair of the set of emitter-receiver pairs, generating a power ratio similarity metric comparing a first power ratio of the baseline dataset with a second power ratio of the reconstruction dataset, wherein the first and the second power ratio are associated with the emitter-receiver pair, and

for each emitter-receiver pair of the set of emitter-receiver pairs, generating a time-of-flight similarity metric comparing a first time-of-flight of the baseline dataset with a second time-of-flight of the reconstruction dataset, wherein the first and the second time-of-flight are associated with the emitter-receiver pair.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining the set of direct emitter-receiver pairs comprises: for each emitter-receiver pair in the set of direct emitter-receiver pairs, adding an emitter-receiver pair to the set of direct emitter-receiver pairs if the power-ratio similarity metric of the emitter-receiver pair satisfies a first threshold and the time-of-flight similarity metric for the emitter-receiver pair satisfies a second threshold.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the set of tangential emitter-receiver pairs comprises:

forming a binary logic matrix that identifies the set of direct emitter-receiver pairs of the set of emitter-receiver pairs;

for each emitter in the ultrasound transducer array, checking progressively distant receivers with the emitter, against the binary logic matrix, until a critical emitter-receiver pair is found, wherein the critical emitter-receiver pair is between one direct-emitter receiver pair of the set of direct emitter-receiver pairs and an indirect emitter-receiver pair; and

adding the critical emitter-receiver pair to the set of tangential emitter-receiver pairs.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising fitting a curve through a set of tangent points to the boundary, defined by the set of tangential emitter-receiver pairs.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining the set of interior pixels of the reconstruction dataset that are within the tissue boundary.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein determining the set of interior pixels comprises:

for a pixel of the reconstruction dataset, forming a pixel vector from each emitter of the set of tangential emitter-receiver pairs toward the pixel, thereby forming a set of pixel vectors for the pixel,

generating a set of comparisons between the set of pixel vectors and the set of bounding vectors, and

adding the pixel to the set of interior pixels if the pixel is within every bounding vector of the set of bounding vectors, as determined from the set of comparisons.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein generating the set of comparisons comprises cross-multiplying a pixel vector and a bounding vector that share an emitter of the set of tangential emitter-receiver pairs.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein reconstructing pixels of the set of interior pixels comprises reconstructing pixels based upon at least one of acoustic attenuation, acoustic reflection, and acoustic speed.

11. A method for imaging a volume of tissue and defining a boundary of the volume of tissue using an ultrasound transducer array comprising a set of emitter-receiver pairs, the method comprising:

acquiring a baseline dataset and a reconstruction dataset with the ultrasound transducer array, wherein the baseline dataset is representative of a first set of signals interacting with a medium without the volume of tissue present in the medium and the reconstruction dataset is representative of a second set of signals interacting with the medium and the volume of tissue present in the medium;

receiving the baseline dataset from the set of emitter-receiver pairs;

receiving the reconstruction dataset from the set of emitter-receiver pairs;

from the baseline and the reconstruction datasets, determining a set of tangential emitter-receiver pairs, wherein each tangential emitter-receiver pair in the set of tangential emitter-receiver pairs defines a bounding vector comprising a tangent point along the boundary, thereby defining a set of bounding vectors; and

for each pixel of the reconstruction dataset, determining if the pixel is within the boundary, wherein determining comprises:

forming a pixel vector from each emitter of the set of tangential emitter-receiver pairs toward the pixel, thereby forming a set of pixel vectors for the pixel,

generating a set of comparisons between the set of pixel vectors and the set of bounding vectors,

adding the pixel to the set of interior pixels if the pixel is within every bounding vector of the set of bounding vectors, as determined from the set of comparisons; and

reconstructing pixels determined to be within the boundary, thereby transforming the baseline and the reconstruction datasets into an image rendering of the volume of tissue.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein receiving the baseline dataset and the reconstruction dataset comprise receiving the baseline dataset and the reconstruction dataset at an ultrasound emitter array, configured to surround a scan region for the volume of tissue and emit acoustic signals toward the scan region, and an ultrasound receiver array, configured to surround the scan region and receive acoustic signals from the scan region.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein determining the set of tangential emitter-receiver pairs from the baseline and the reconstruction datasets comprises:

generating a set of similarity metrics, each similarity metric comparing a first metric of the baseline dataset, associated with an emitter-receiver pair from the set of emitter-receiver pairs, with a second metric of the reconstruction dataset, associated with the emitter-receiver pair,

based upon the set of similarity metrics, determining a set of direct emitter-receiver pairs, wherein each direct emitter-receiver pair in the set of direct emitter-receiver pairs defines a direct trajectory that does not pass through the volume of tissue,

forming a binary logic matrix that identifies the set of direct emitter-receiver pairs of the set of emitter-receiver pairs,

for each emitter in the ultrasound transducer array, checking progressively distant receivers with the emitter, against the binary logic matrix, until a critical emitter-receiver pair is found, wherein the critical emitter-receiver pair is between one direct-emitter receiver pair of the set of direct emitter-receiver pairs and an indirect emitter-receiver pair, and

adding the critical emitter-receiver pair to the set of tangential emitter-receiver pairs.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein generating the set of comparisons comprises cross-multiplying a pixel vector and a bounding vector, wherein the pixel vector and the bounding vector share an emitter of the set of tangential emitter-receiver pairs.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein reconstructing pixels determined to be within the boundary comprises reconstructing pixels based upon at least one of acoustic attenuation, acoustic reflection, and acoustic speed.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising selectively reconstructing pixels within tissue boundaries of multiple imaging planes, thereby transforming the baseline and the reconstruction datasets into a three-dimensional rendering of the volume of tissue.