This research aims at developing a three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound system for carotid and brachial artery scanning for evaluating vessel wall characteristics. In the long term, we seek to test hypothesis that the artery wall measurements of carotid intima-media-thickness and brachial flow mediated dilatation using 3D ultrasound data provide better repeatability than those derived from conventional 2D ultrasound scans. The approach is to implement a free-hand data acquisition scheme using conventional 2D medical ultrasound scanner, develop data processing algorithms for appropriately registering and displaying the volumetric ultrasound vessel scans, and develop techniques for measuring vessel wall characteristics. The system uses electromagnetic sensor mounted on the transducer to acquire position and orientation of each image slice as the transducer is moved freely to scan the area of interest. These non-parallel images are registered into a 3D dataset for reconstruction, segmentation, and measurements of the vessel wall structure. A simple calibration object is developed using a small stainless-steel sphere in a fixed position to perform coordinate transformations and pixel registration. A commercial 3D ultrasound tissue-mimicking phantom is used for assessment of freehand 3D data acquisition, calibration, registration, and visualization schemes. Early results of experimental carotid artery scans of volunteers are presented.
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