Contrast-Free Ultrasound Microvascular Imaging via Radiality and Similarity Weighting

Abstract

Microvascular imaging has advanced significantly with ultrafast data acquisition and improved clutter filtering, enhancing the sensitivity of power Doppler imaging to small vessels. However, the image quality remains limited by spatial resolution and elevated background noise, both of which impede visualization and accurate quantification. To address these limitations, this study proposes a high-resolution cross-correlation Power Doppler (HR-XPD) method that integrates spatial radiality weighting with Doppler signal coherence analysis, thereby enhancing spatial resolution while suppressing artifacts and background noise. Quantitative evaluations in simulation and in vivo experiments on healthy human liver, transplanted human kidney, and pig kidney demonstrated that HR-XPD significantly improves microvascular resolvability and contrast compared to conventional PD. In vivo results showed up to a 2 to 3-fold enhancement in spatial resolution and an increase in contrast by up to 20 dB. High-resolution vascular details were clearly depicted within a short acquisition time of only 0.3 s-1.2 s without the use of contrast agents. These findings indicate that HR-XPD provides an effective, contrast-free, and high-resolution microvascular imaging approach with broad applicability in both preclinical and clinical research.