Ultrasound calibration toolkit with a high-adjustability feature based on user requirements

Abstract

3D freehand Ultrasound reconstruction is one of many choices to assemble 3D ultrasound volume from 2D ultrasound images with benefit in low-cost operations, conveniency and ease of usage which can be applied to intraoperative imaging. Ultrasound calibration is the procedure used to find the position and orientation of each acquired 2D ultrasound image in 3D space, hence is needed to be performed before freely moving the ultrasound probe to collect images and reconstruct 3D ultrasound volume. In this paper, we propose our ultrasound calibration system, programmed to be an automated calibration tool—the most convenient and suitable for regular ultrasound calibration performance. The system provides user interface for collecting data from calibration performance, automated ultrasound image segmentation and calibration in an orderly manner. The users are not required to manually select the proper image set or extract images’ feature as an input for the system as opposed to other regular procedures. An option to switch to semiautomatic mode is also added to overcome the problem of segmenting the input images which are low in quality. Hopkins’ phantom and N-wired phantom are supported by the prototype system for the sake of further development.