UltrasoundnSIGHT Plus

Adaptable image formation

Harnessing advanced GPUs for outstanding image quality
Ultrasound is becoming the first imaging modality used to diagnose patients.
Clinicians also recognize its utility in planning and monitoring a varietyof treatments and in follow-up imaging. Its wide variety of uses requiresthat ultrasound systems easily adapt to different applications and patients.
Both diagnostic exams and image-guided procedures require superior imaging
There’s always aofway
to make life
betterfor visualization
anatomyanddevices. Images must be easy to acquire,with clinically sufficient penetration, resolution and sensitivity. Images mustalso take minimal time to optimize, supporting efficient workflow.

The challenge

Image formation requires computational
power and flexibility

Image formation – the process of converting acoustic data from the transducer
into a raw ultrasound image – is key to meeting all these requirements.
Image formation uses the data collected across multiple transmit
events to reconstruct each voxel in the raw acoustic image. This
computationally demanding set of mathematical operations
must be done at very high speeds to achieve real-time performance(Figure 1). Traditionally, specialized hardware has provided
the necessary computing power.

AnalogdataDigitalchanneldataAcquisition
electronics

Imageformation
HardwareHowever, with such a fixed architecture, it is difficult to develop newand more complex approaches to image formation. A hardware-only
solution cannot support the flexibility required by adaptive algorithms
that improve image quality and often transform non-diagnostic
images into diagnostic images.

Raw
imageRendering and display
Postprocessing

Hardware image formation path

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The solution

Combine hardware and software for power, flexibility
and speed

Recent advances in the processing power of graphical processing
units (GPUs) make it possible to build a platform that enables
software to run image formation calculations. Coupling the flexibilityof software with the power of advanced hardware provides many
advantages. It supports sophisticated image formation as GPU

nSIGHT Plushybrid architecture
Analogdata

capabilities increase, higher frame rates, and improved image
quality from adaptive algorithms that are customized for specificapplications. Benefits include crisp 3D volumes at high frame rates
or 2D images with significantly reduced clutter.

Imageformation
DigitalchanneldataRaw
image

HardwareRendering and display
Postprocessing

Acquisition
electronics

Hardware image formation path

Software

Software image formation path

The resultnSIGHT Plus platform unlocks adaptive image formationnSIGHT Plus harnesses the power of hardware and the flexibilityof software to bring new capabilities to image formation.
Its advanced, intelligent algorithms use the available acoustic
data early in the imaging chain to decrease artifacts and suppress
interference. Because data is more abundant earlier in the image
formation process, 2D, 3D and multiplanar reconstruction (MPR)
image quality can be enhanced greatly.

The Image Boost function for nSIGHT Plus is just one example
of adaptive processing made possible through the power of advanced
GPUs. Image Boost is an adaptive clutter suppression algorithm that
reduces undesired artifacts while boosting desired signals fromthe myocardium and other cardiac structures. Because it produces
a clean raw image, downstream processing can enhance the visualcharacteristics of the final ultrasound image.

nSIGHT Plus hybrid architecture

Acquisition
electronics

Digitalchanneldata

Image formation

New raw
imagePost-processing
and rendering• Improved 2D image quality• Enhanced MPR image quality• Improved 3D image quality• Higher frame rates• Data-intensive, AI-enabledquanti�cation

Not available for all transducers at Release 9.0

This printed copy is not an official Philips hard copy, use for reference only2

Beyond beamforming
Software image formation algorithms are at the foundation of future innovations.

Innovation
momentum

Breakthrough innovations• Patient-centric clinicaldecision support• Instant image optimization• Fully automated quanti�cation

Clinical innovation

Algorithm innovations• Improved image quality fortechnically diﬃcult study (TDS)• Clean 2D and 3D imaging• Fast 3D imaging

Real-time adaptive signal
processing and image formationGPUs

Raw dataPlatform

XDCRs

Architecture innovations• GPU image formation• Raw data plumbing• Transducer innovation• Platform enhancement

nSIGHT Plus

This printed copy is not an official Philips hard copy, use for reference only3

A platform for the future

The nSIGHT Plus platform is designed to usher in a new era of ultrasound utility.
Creation of a clinically rich raw image allows premium quality image quantification
tools and visualization tools to perform at their best level, providing high-quality
images that clinicians need for confident diagnosis and treatment, even for difficult
patients. In the future, nSIGHT Plus will facilitate clean color flow, expand the reachof improved image formation to other transducers and applications, push
the envelope on acoustics with high frame rates, and enhance contrast imaging.

The conclusion

The X5-1c transducer combines with nSIGHT Plus for improved
clinical information in 2D and 3D transthoracic imaging

When nSIGHT Plus image formation is combined with the dataacquisition of the X5-1c transducer, clinicians can see clinicalinformation in 3D transthoracic imaging, supporting an improved
diagnosis while visualizing.
• Pulmonic valves• Tricuspid valve• Mitral valve• Apical thrombus

MPR imaging using X5-1c

PLAX using X5-1c

Clinicians’ diagnostic confidence in 3D LV function quantification
was improved in 80% of patients undergoing transthoracic imaging
exams using the X5-1c transducer powered by nSIGHT Plus.1
nSIGHT Plus-powered Image Boost on the X5-1c transducer alsoenhances the visualization of tissue in 2D imaging while reducing
clutter and noise.

TrueVue rendering of AP4 using X5-1c

Reference

1 External study at UCMC using Release 9.0 and X5-1c.

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4522 991 71311 * NOV 2021

This printed copy is not an official Philips hard copy, use for reference only