UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Full-waveform inversion imaging of the human brain

Guasch, L; Calderón Agudo, O; Tang, M-X; Nachev, P; Warner, M; (2020) Full-waveform inversion imaging of the human brain. npj Digital Medicine volume , 3 , Article 28. 10.1038/s41746-020-0240-8. Green open access

[thumbnail of s41746-020-0240-8.pdf]
Preview
Text
s41746-020-0240-8.pdf - Published Version

Download (3MB) | Preview

Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging and X-ray computed tomography provide the two principal methods available for imaging the brain at high spatial resolution, but these methods are not easily portable and cannot be applied safely to all patients. Ultrasound imaging is portable and universally safe, but existing modalities cannot image usefully inside the adult human skull. We use in silico simulations to demonstrate that full-waveform inversion, a computational technique originally developed in geophysics, is able to generate accurate three-dimensional images of the brain with sub-millimetre resolution. This approach overcomes the familiar problems of conventional ultrasound neuroimaging by using the following: transcranial ultrasound that is not obscured by strong reflections from the skull, low frequencies that are readily transmitted with good signal-to-noise ratio, an accurate wave equation that properly accounts for the physics of wave propagation, and adaptive waveform inversion that is able to create an accurate model of the skull that then compensates properly for wavefront distortion. Laboratory ultrasound data, using ex vivo human skulls and in vivo transcranial signals, demonstrate that our computational experiments mimic the penetration and signal-to-noise ratios expected in clinical applications. This form of non-invasive neuroimaging has the potential for the rapid diagnosis of stroke and head trauma, and for the provision of routine monitoring of a wide range of neurological conditions.

Type: Article
Title: Full-waveform inversion imaging of the human brain
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1038/s41746-020-0240-8
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-020-0240-8
Language: English
Additional information: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Keywords: Acoustics, Brain imaging, Three-dimensional imaging, Tomography, Ultrasonography
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology > Brain Repair and Rehabilitation
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10094592
Downloads since deposit
116Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item