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Ultrasound + MRI Hybrid Imaging

We have been using sensors as an adjunct to medical scanners, to enrich and diversify the information that is being obtained. More specifically, we developed a new type of sensors that use ultrasound fields to probe the anatomy, and called them 'organ-configuration motion' (OCM) sensors:

 

Fig. 1

OCM sensor

Our current system is shown below, it is the size of a PC, and up to four OCM sensors can be connected at a time:

 

Fig. 2

OCM system

In our current version, the sensors need to be connected to the system (above) with cables. But we are working on a wireless version, which should prove even easier to use, here are some schematics:

 

Fig. 3

Wireless OCM schematics

In terms of applications, we have been using OCM sensors in combination with MRI, and PET. In the example below, MRI images were acquired at a rate of 2 frames per second; at the same time, in parallel, an early version of our sensors was busy gathering ultrasound signals at a much higher temporal rate. When combining MRI and high-rate sensor signals using machine-learning techniques we were able to reconstruct a stream of MRI-like images at a rate of 150 frames per second, a frame rate 75x greater than that of the MRI scanner alone. The video below explains the process and results in more details.

 

Publications

  1. Madore B, Belsley G, Cheng C-C, Preiswerk P, Foley Kijewski M, Wu P-H, Martell LB, Pluim JPW, Di Carli M, and Moore SC. 12/2022. “Ultrasound-based sensors for respiratory motion assessment in multimodality PET imaging.” Phys Med Biol, 19;67(2).
  2. Madore B, Preiswerk F, Bredfeldt J, Zong S, and Cheng C-C. 12/2021. “Ultrasound-based sensors to monitor physiological motion.” Med Phys, 48, Pp. 3614-22.
  3. F Preiswerk, M Toews, C-C Cheng, Jr-y Chiou, C-S Mei, LF Schaefer, W. S. Hoge, B Schwartz, LP Panych, and B Madore. 12/31/2017. “Hybrid MRI ultrasound acquisitions, and scannerless real-time imaging. Finalist of the YIA Rabi Award, and recipient of a YIA Cum Laude Award.” Magn Reson Med, 78, Pp. 897-908.
  4. Preiswerk F, Toews M, Hoge WS, Chiou J-yG, Panych LP, Wells III WM, Madore B. Hybrid ultrasound and MRI acquisitions for high-speed imaging of respiratory organ motion. In: Navab N, Hornegger J, Wells W, Frangi A, editors. Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention – MICCAI: Springer International Publishing, 2015:315-322. NIHMSID:NIHMS765239
  5. Preiswerk F, Cheng C-C, Luo J, Madore B. Synthesizing dynamic MRI using long-term recurrent convolutional networks. Conf. on Machine Learning in Medical Imaging 2018

Invited presentations

2022 (upcoming): Oxford, UK. Prospective motion tracking and prospective sequences for body imaging. ISMRM workshop on Motion Detection and Correction.

2021: Virtual meeting. Ultrasound-based sensors to monitor internal motion. AI4US: Unlocking the potential of Artificial Intelligence for Ultrasound image processing. IEEE-EMBS international Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics, jointly organized with the IEEE International Conference on Wearable and Implantable Body Sensor Network.

2019: Montréal, Québec, Canada. Motion correction with external sensors. Educational session at the 2019 ISMRM meeting.

2019: Boston, MA, USA. Ultrasound-based sensors for enhanced medical imaging performance. World Medical Innovation Forum.

2018: NYU, New York, NY, USA. Hybrid MRI-ultrasound acquisitions. ISMRM-sponsored workshop ‘i2i from innovation to implementation in imaging’.

2018: Boston, MA. Sensors to track the 3D position and orientation of US imaging probes. NCIGT workshop on Image-Guided Therapy.

2018: Proctor Academy in Andover, NH, USA. The instrumented scanner. Gordon Research Conference on In Vivo Magnetic Resonance.

2018: Paris, France. Concurrent MRI: Imaging of real-time events. Educational session at the 2018 ISMRM meeting.

Abstracts (last 5 years)

  1. Willey D, Dickinson O, Overson D, Truong T-K, Robb F, Song A, Madore B, and Darnell D. 2022. “Wireless Physiological Motion Monitoring with an Integrated RF/Wireless Coil Array and MR-Compatible Ultrasound-Based System. Summa Cum Laude Award.” Proceedings of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. London, UK.
  2. Madore B, Cheng C-C, and Preiswerk F. 2021. “A compact and clonable ultrasound-based sensor system to monitor physiological motion.” Proceedings of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. Virtual Meeting.
  3. Willey D, Bresticker J, Truong T-K, Song A, Madore B, and Darnell D. 2020. “Integrated RF/Wireless Coil and Ultrasound-Based Sensors to Enable Wireless Physiological Motion Monitoring in MRI.” Proceedings of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. Virtual Meeting.
  4. Madore B, Preiswerk F, Bredfeldt J, Zong S, and Cheng C-C. 2020. “Motion monitoring using MR-compatible ultrasound-based sensors.” Proceedings of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. Virtual Meeting.
  5. B Madore, C-C Cheng, and F Preiswerk. 2019. “Combining MR and ultrasound imaging, through sensor-based probe tracking.” Proceedings of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. Montréal, Québec, Canada.
  6. Kwon J, Cheng C-C, Madore B, Shimizu S, Shirato H, and Bredfeldt J. 2019. “Enabling MRI-guided Radiation Therapy of the Pancreas with MRI Compatible Ultrasound Sensors.” Proceedings of the 61st Annual Meeting of American Association of Physicists in Medicine. San Antonio, USA.
  7. B Madore, C-C Cheng, and F Preiswerk. 2019. “Ultrasound-based sensors for enhanced medical imaging performance.” World Medical Innovation Forum. Boston, MA, USA.
  8. P-H Wu, C-C Cheng, F Preiswerk, and B Madore. “Application of hybrid MR-ultrasound imaging to multi-baseline thermometry.” Proceedings of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2018. Paris, France: p. 1493.
  9. B Madore, C-C Cheng, and F Preiswerk. 2018. “Ultrasound-based sensors, for enhanced medical imaging.” Proceedings of the fourteenth annual retreat of the Broad Institute 2018. Boston, MA, USA.
  10. C-C Cheng, G Belsey, SC Moore, F Preiswerk, P-H Wu, M Foley Kijewski, L Campbell, MF DiCarli, and B Madore. “Ultrasound-based sensors for motion correction of PET data.” Proceedings of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 2018. Philadelphia, PA, USA.
  11. B Madore, C-C Cheng, and F Preiswerk. “Ultrasound-based sensors for physiological motion monitoring.” Proceedings of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2018. Paris, France: p. 1004.
  12. F Preiswerk, M Toews, C-C Cheng, Jr-y Chiou, C-S Mei, L Schaefer, WS Hoge, B Schwartz, LP Panych, and B Madore. 2017. “Hybrid MRI-Ultrasound Acquisitions, and Scannerless Real-Time Imaging.” Proceedings of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2017. Honolulu, USA: p. 0033.
  13. P-H Wu, F Preiswerk, C-C Cheng, B Madore. “Hybrid MR-ultrasound acquisition for multi-baseline thermometry.” Proceedings of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2017. Honolulu, USA, p. 2587.
  14. F Preiswerk, J Cai, C-C Cheng, WS Hoge, P-H Wu, LP Panych, B Madore. “RF-sensing for Trigger-based Synchronization of Auxiliary Devices, and Pulse-sequence Debugging.” Proceedings of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2017. Honolulu, USA, p. 4444.
  15. WS Hoge, F Preiswerk, JR Polimeni, SS Yengul, P Aksit Ciris, B Madore. “Ultrasound Monitoring of a Respiratory Phantom for the Development and Validation of Segmented EPI Reconstruction Methods.” Proceedings of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2017. Honolulu, USA, p. 1307.
  16. F Preiswerk, C-C Cheng, P-H Wu, LP Panych, B Madore. “Ultrasound-based cardiac gating for MRI.” Proceedings of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2017. Honolulu, USA, p. 4443.