Ultrasound Lung Aeration Map via Physics-Aware Neural Operators

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Wang, Jiayun, Ostras, Oleksii, Sode, Masashi, Tolooshams, Bahareh, Li, Zongyi, Azizzadenesheli, Kamyar, Pinton, Gianmarco, Anandkumar, Anima
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Wang, Jiayun
Ostras, Oleksii
Sode, Masashi
Tolooshams, Bahareh
Li, Zongyi
Azizzadenesheli, Kamyar
Pinton, Gianmarco
Anandkumar, Anima
author_facet Wang, Jiayun
Ostras, Oleksii
Sode, Masashi
Tolooshams, Bahareh
Li, Zongyi
Azizzadenesheli, Kamyar
Pinton, Gianmarco
Anandkumar, Anima
contents Lung ultrasound is a growing modality in clinics for diagnosing and monitoring acute and chronic lung diseases due to its low cost and accessibility. Lung ultrasound works by emitting diagnostic pulses, receiving pressure waves and converting them into radio frequency (RF) data, which are then processed into B-mode images with beamformers for radiologists to interpret. However, unlike conventional ultrasound for soft tissue anatomical imaging, lung ultrasound interpretation is complicated by complex reverberations from the pleural interface caused by the inability of ultrasound to penetrate air. The indirect B-mode images make interpretation highly dependent on reader expertise, requiring years of training, which limits its widespread use despite its potential for high accuracy in skilled hands. To address these challenges and democratize ultrasound lung imaging as a reliable diagnostic tool, we propose LUNA, an AI model that directly reconstructs lung aeration maps from RF data, bypassing the need for traditional beamformers and indirect interpretation of B-mode images. LUNA uses a Fourier neural operator, which processes RF data efficiently in Fourier space, enabling accurate reconstruction of lung aeration maps. LUNA offers a quantitative, reader-independent alternative to traditional semi-quantitative lung ultrasound scoring methods. The development of LUNA involves synthetic and real data: We simulate synthetic data with an experimentally validated approach and scan ex vivo swine lungs as real data. Trained on abundant simulated data and fine-tuned with a small amount of real-world data, LUNA achieves robust performance, demonstrated by an aeration estimation error of 9% in ex-vivo lung scans. We demonstrate the potential of reconstructing lung aeration maps from RF data, providing a foundation for improving lung ultrasound reproducibility and diagnostic utility.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_01157
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Ultrasound Lung Aeration Map via Physics-Aware Neural Operators
Wang, Jiayun
Ostras, Oleksii
Sode, Masashi
Tolooshams, Bahareh
Li, Zongyi
Azizzadenesheli, Kamyar
Pinton, Gianmarco
Anandkumar, Anima
Image and Video Processing
Machine Learning
Medical Physics
Lung ultrasound is a growing modality in clinics for diagnosing and monitoring acute and chronic lung diseases due to its low cost and accessibility. Lung ultrasound works by emitting diagnostic pulses, receiving pressure waves and converting them into radio frequency (RF) data, which are then processed into B-mode images with beamformers for radiologists to interpret. However, unlike conventional ultrasound for soft tissue anatomical imaging, lung ultrasound interpretation is complicated by complex reverberations from the pleural interface caused by the inability of ultrasound to penetrate air. The indirect B-mode images make interpretation highly dependent on reader expertise, requiring years of training, which limits its widespread use despite its potential for high accuracy in skilled hands. To address these challenges and democratize ultrasound lung imaging as a reliable diagnostic tool, we propose LUNA, an AI model that directly reconstructs lung aeration maps from RF data, bypassing the need for traditional beamformers and indirect interpretation of B-mode images. LUNA uses a Fourier neural operator, which processes RF data efficiently in Fourier space, enabling accurate reconstruction of lung aeration maps. LUNA offers a quantitative, reader-independent alternative to traditional semi-quantitative lung ultrasound scoring methods. The development of LUNA involves synthetic and real data: We simulate synthetic data with an experimentally validated approach and scan ex vivo swine lungs as real data. Trained on abundant simulated data and fine-tuned with a small amount of real-world data, LUNA achieves robust performance, demonstrated by an aeration estimation error of 9% in ex-vivo lung scans. We demonstrate the potential of reconstructing lung aeration maps from RF data, providing a foundation for improving lung ultrasound reproducibility and diagnostic utility.
title Ultrasound Lung Aeration Map via Physics-Aware Neural Operators
topic Image and Video Processing
Machine Learning
Medical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.01157