Auto Flash Artifact Suppression

White paper Auto Flash Artifact Suppression ACUSON Redwood™ ultrasound system Tommy Wong, Principal Systems Engineer, Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., Ultrasound HOOD05162003076488 · 15-April-2020 siemens-healthineers.com/acuson-redwood SIEMENS Healthineers White paper · ACUSON Redwood ultrasound system Auto Flash Artifact Suppression Reducing variability among users, improved image quality and workflow The implications of patient and transducer motion in ultrasound, are significant. Up to 40% of abdominal ultrasound scans are repeat scans. Of those, 14% require additional follow-up exams, which may cost up to 8 billion dollars in additional tests*. Image quality is a foremost concern, since even modest amounts of motion may be sufficient to reduce clinical confidence, resulting in longer scan times, increased key strokes/ reach and repeat scans. All of these concerns can impact departmental efficiency as well as patient and referring physician satisfaction. Overview High-performance ultrasound systems use sophisticated algorithms that make use of temporal information to improve image quality and blood flow detection. Such technologies, however, are highly sensitive to motion. Based on the type of motion, clinicians often try several different workarounds: To accommodate for patient respiratory motion, These challenges can be overcome with intelligent, • clinicians often ask patients to hold their breath, integrated technologies that enable automatic correction which may not be practical for pediatric and/or for patient or transducer motion. very ill patients. Auto Flash Artifact Suppression on the ACUSON Redwood • Due to involuntary cardiac motion, the clinician allows high-quality imaging without additional workflow may choose to angle or reposition the transducer steps – designed to improve imaging consistency and to a different scan window further away from the reduce unwarranted variability. Moreover, faster quality heart to avoid flash artifacts from cardiac motion. imaging can support higher levels of clinical confidence, Such a window may not be optimal for diagnosis. faster triage in the ER, and better departmental and Alternatively, the clinician may manually reduce organizational efficiency. the color Doppler sensitivity to a level that helps to avoid flash artifacts; by doing so, they risk not Motion Detection detecting the blood flow of interest. Auto Flash Artifact Suppression technology can • During initial scanning assessment, clinicians constantly automatically detect patient and transducer movement reposition the transducer to different anatomical that may impact image quality. The typical ghosting windows in search of targets, causing temporal artifacts appearance associated with B-mode and color Doppler to occur. As a result, the clinician will either move very from motion and transducer movement is prevented slowly or manually reduce system sensitivity while while enhancing color sensitivity and reducing B-mode searching; and then, manually restore system sensitivity noise when no motion is detected. when the search is complete. When the system detects motion, it gradually and In each of these cases, workflow is disrupted, efficiency automatically reduces persistence, which limits smearing is reduced and the opportunity for user variability or ghosting of images. When the motion stops, the increases. In some cases, the clinician might temporarily system automatically restores itself to conventional or permanently preset the system to reduce or disable image processing, which maintains the original image the image enhancing technologies in order to avoid integrity. In this way, clinicians achieve the highest motion artifacts, thereby reducing image quality and possible levels of image quality without additional steps, clinical confidence. potentially saving time and increasing efficiency. 2 siemens-healthineers.com/acuson-redwood HOOD05162003076488 · 15-April-2020 ACUSON Redwood ultrasound system · White paper Benefits of Auto Flash Artifact Suppression Figure 1 vs. Figure 2: Color Doppler image of the same Auto Flash Artifact Suppression eliminates the continual scan comparison with Auto Flash Artifact Suppression need to adjust sensitivity settings by automatically off (Fig. 1) and on (Fig. 2), when the sonographer is maintaining the best color sensitivity when little surveying the liver and kidney with noticeable color motion is detected. As motion increases, the degree motion artifact. of suppression automatically increases proportionally Figure 3 vs. Figure 4: Comparison images of the to provide an artifact-free image. pulmonary veins with Auto Flash Artifact Suppression off Auto Flash Artifact Suppression is a Siemens Healthineers (Fig. 3) and on (Fig. 4). A noticeable reduction of motion proprietary technology that detects and prevents artifact and less bleeding of the color Doppler into the artifacts associated with transducer and patient motion surrounding tissue is demonstrated in the second image. and enhances color imaging sensitivity when no motion is detected. It is integrated into the platform architecture Conclusion of the ACUSON Redwood system and, as such, can Auto Flash Artifact Suppression technology can detect support higher image quality and greater diagnostic and prevent color motion artifacts to reduce noise, while certainty without adding additional steps to the at the same time enhancing color sensitivity for improved clinician’s workflow. image quality, reducing variability between users and Auto Flash Artifact Suppression enables the use of very improving workflow. low filter settings without showing motion artifacts in color Doppler. Abdome Abdome EQ OdB EQ0 dB PRF 781 Kidney PRF 789 Kidney -15cm - 15cm Fr 486 Figure 1: Conventional color Doppler image with motion artifacts. Figure 2: Color Doppler image with Auto Flash Artifact Suppression technology. Cardia FORMid El Mid TEQ -2 PRF 312 Genera PRF 354 Genera 18cm . 75bpm Lead Il 66bpm Lead Il Figure 3: Conventional color Doppler image of the pulmonary veins Figure 4: Color Doppler image of the pulmonary veins with Auto with motion artifacts. Flash Artifact Suppression technology. HOOD05162003076488 · 15-April-2020 siemens-healthineers.com/acuson-redwood 3 References *Source Case Report Repeat Abdominal Imaging Examinations in a Tertiary Kanal K, Bhargava P, Vaidya S, Dighe M. Ultrasound Care Hospital: Ivan K. Ip, MD, MPH,a,b Koenraad J. Artifacts Classification, Applied Physics with Illustrations, Mortele, MD,a,c Luciano M. Prevedello, MD,a and Ramin and Imaging Appearances. Ultrasound Quarterly. Khorasani, MD, MPHa 2014 June;30(2):145-157. Does radiologist recommendation for follow-up with Any technical data contained in this document may the same imaging modality contribute substantially to vary within defined tolerances. Original images always high-cost imaging volume?: Lee SI1, Saokar A, Dreyer KJ, lose a certain amount of detail when reproduced. Weilburg JB, Thrall JH, Hahn PF Standalone clinical images may have been cropped A 2009 Harvard School of Public Health report estimated to better visualize pathology. The products/features that redundant laboratory studies amounted to 8.2% mentioned in this document may not be commercially of all inpatient hospital costs in 2004, with redundant available in all countries. Due to regulatory reasons, radiology tests accounting for a total of $3.2 billion. their future availability cannot be guaranteed. Please contact your local Siemens Healthineers organization Source: Improving Safety And Eliminating Redundant for further details. Tests: Cutting Costs In U.S. Hospitals: Ashish K. Jha, David C. Chan, Abigail B. Ridgway, Calvin Franz and ACUSON Redwood is a trademark of Siemens Medical David W. Bates. Solutions USA, Inc. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/26/health/obese- Auto Flash Artifact Suppression is Siemens Healthineers patients-health-care.html patented technology. Siemens Healthineers Headquarters Legal Manufacturer & Published by Siemens Healthcare GmbH Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc. Henkestr. 127 Ultrasound 91052 Erlangen, Germany 22010 S.E. 51st Street Phone: +49 9131 84-0 Issaquah, WA 98029, siemens-healthineers.com USA Phone: 1-888-826-9702 siemens-healthineers.com/ultrasound Published by Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc. · Order No. A91US-632-1C-4A00 · HOOD05162003076488 · 15-April-2020 · Printed in Germany · 8556 0320 © Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., 2020