Phase-Shift Depth Migration for Plane-Wave Ultrasound Imaging

Plane-wave ultrasound imaging is an important modality that enables very high frame rates, which is necessary for adequate characterization of blood flow and tissue motion properties. This work describes a novel Fourier-domain method for plane-wave ultrasound image reconstruction that can be used in situations where the speed of sound varies with depth in a layered propagation medium. Our approach is based on geophysical phase-shift migration technique that has been modified to handle plane-wave ultrasound data processing. Our simulation results show that the proposed method is capable of accurately imaging point targets in a three-layer medium, mimicking tissue-bone-tissue ultrasound propagation.