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1. Getting Started

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Crystal Coolbaugh edited this page Mar 15, 2019 · 7 revisions

Contents

  1. Installation
  2. FloWave.US Requirements
  3. FloWave.US Source Code
  4. Testing Source Code
  5. Screen Capture Specifications

Installation

  1. CLICK the green "Clone or download" button to access the current version of FloWave.US.
  2. SELECT the "Download ZIP" option to download the latest program release.
  3. SAVE the unpacked source code files into a folder directory of your choosing.
  4. OPEN MATLAB and set the working directory to the location of your downloaded files.
  5. TYPE FloWaveUS into the MATLAB command prompt to run the program.

To access older versions of FloWave.US, download the Source Code zip folder for the desired version from the Releases page.

FloWave.US Requirements

FloWave.US Software Requirements:

  • MATLAB: version R2011b or newer

If you are new to MATLAB, please visit the MathWorks site for introductory tutorials.

FloWave.US Source Code

The FloWave.US Source Code folder contains the following m-files (MATLAB Script Files):

  • FloWaveUS - primary commands to analyze ultrasound blood flow data
  • UsSetup - primary commands to calibrate FloWave.US to a specific ultrasound scanner screen configuration
  • BMode - primary commands to measure vessel diameter in brightness-mode (B-Mode) ultrasound recordings

The FloWaveUS m-file requires several functions be present in the MATLAB path for operation. Please check that all files listed in the SourceCode folder are included after downloading the repository.

We used the following third-party functions in the FloWave.US code. Thank you to the authors for making these files available.

  • Imgaussian - applies a Gaussian image filter to enhance vessel edges (called in AutoDiameter function; written by Dirk-Jan Kroon - see associated third party license)
  • GInputc - adapts the ginput cursor properties (written by Jiro Doke - see associated third party license)

Testing Source Code

After downloading the FloWave.US source code, we recommend you analyze the demonstration videos to get familiar with the software functions and to ensure FloWave.US will work with your computer system. Please refer to the README file in the Demo folder for more details.

Screen Capture Specifications

FloWave.US analyzes digital video recordings of duplex or brightness mode (B-Mode) ultrasound screen captures.

For the best results, the screen capture should meet the following requirements:

  • High Definition Acquisiton: video recordings of the ultrasound screen should be acquired at a mininmum sampling rates of 30 frames per second.
  • View of On-Screen Scales: screen captures must include the manufacturer's calibration scales (e.g. velocity, distance, time) to convert pixels into the units of interest.
  • Complete View of Ultrasound Screen: screen captures must include the complete B-mode or duplex image and not be cropped.
  • MATLAB Compatible Video File: digital video files must be saved/converted to an AVI or MOV format.
    • Windows 7 or later: AVI or MOV
    • Macintosh: MOV only
  • Removal of On-Screen Calculations/Markings: on-screen calculations (e.g. cardiac cycle gates) should be turned off during the video recording to avoid obstructing the view of the B-Mode or duplex image.
  • Real-Time Video: video recordings of previously captured data (e.g. cine loops) can cause artifacts or missed frames when reading the video file into FloWave.US. It is possible to analyze these types of data, but it can be a challenge to account for errors. For best results, we recommend recording the ultrasound screen in real-time to a file during an experiment.

Screen Capture Video Recording Equipment

Video recording equipment can typically be connected to the ultrasound scanner's video output or composite output port.

Screen captures acquired with the following equipment have been used successfully with FloWave.US:

Please submit a comment if you find success using a different type of recording equipment so we can keep the above list up to date.

Video Converter / Editing Software

We use the WinX HD Converter Deluxe software to convert our DVD video recording files to a video type compatible with MATLAB.

Other software can be used; however, the final video type (i.e. video codec) must be supported by your computer's version of MATLAB.

Please visit the DVD Video Conversion guide for more information about formatting DVD screen capture recordings to digital videos for MATLAB.

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