Systems and methods for super-resolution ultrasound imaging

A method for ultrasound imaging with an ultrasound system, the steps of the method comprising:

• a) transmitting ultrasound to a focal region in a volume-of-interest that contains at least one microbubble, using the ultrasound system;
• b) acquiring signal data in response to the transmitted ultrasound, using the ultrasound system;
• c) reconstructing a plurality of initial images by beamforming the acquired signal data;
• d) estimating a position of the at least one microbubble in each of the initial images;
• e) computing phase and amplitude correction factors using the positions estimated in step d) and the initial images reconstructed in step c);
• f) reconstructing a plurality of target images by beamforming the acquired signal data using the phase and amplitude correction factors computed in step e);
• and
• g) producing an image of the volume-of-interest by combining the target images, the image of the volume-of-interest having a higher spatial resolution than the target images.