Ray theory-Based Compounded Plane Wave Ultrasound Imaging for Aberration Corrected transcranial imaging: a Phantom Study

Compounded plane wave imaging (CPWI) allows high-frame-rate measurement benefiting real-time brain imaging. The quality of transcranial brain imaging remains to be improved with the presence of skulls because of phase aberration. This study introduced methods of calculating the transmitting time-delays, and their accuracy was compared with numerical simulation using a transcranial model. Experiments were carried out on a 3D-printed skull phantom. High-quality intracranial images could be achieved using the right transmitting and receiving time-delays. This study suggested that the proposed methods might have the potential for real-time and non-invasive transcranial aberration-corrected imaging.