Comparison of several speckle reduction techniques for 3D ultrasound images

Author(s):  
Zilong Hu ◽  
Jinshan Tang ◽  
Lei Liang
2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liu Li ◽  
Wenguang Hou ◽  
Xuming Zhang ◽  
Mingyue Ding

Speckle suppression plays an important role in improving ultrasound (US) image quality. While lots of algorithms have been proposed for 2D US image denoising with remarkable filtering quality, there is relatively less work done on 3D ultrasound speckle suppression, where the whole volume data rather than just one frame needs to be considered. Then, the most crucial problem with 3D US denoising is that the computational complexity increases tremendously. The nonlocal means (NLM) provides an effective method for speckle suppression in US images. In this paper, a programmable graphic-processor-unit- (GPU-) based fast NLM filter is proposed for 3D ultrasound speckle reduction. A Gamma distribution noise model, which is able to reliably capture image statistics for Log-compressed ultrasound images, was used for the 3D block-wise NLM filter on basis of Bayesian framework. The most significant aspect of our method was the adopting of powerful data-parallel computing capability of GPU to improve the overall efficiency. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can enormously accelerate the algorithm.


Author(s):  
Muhammad Ali Shoaib ◽  
Md Belayet Hossain ◽  
Yan Chai Hum ◽  
Joon Huang Chuah ◽  
Maheza Irna Mohd Salim ◽  
...  

Background: Ultrasound (US) imaging can be a convenient and reliable substitute for magnetic resonance imaging in the investigation or screening of articular cartilage injury. However, US images suffer from two main impediments, i.e., low contrast ratio and presence of speckle noise. Aims: A variation of anisotropic diffusion is proposed that can reduce speckle noise without compromising the image quality of the edges and other important details. Methods: For this technique, four gradient thresholds were adopted instead of one. A new diffusivity function that preserves the edge of the resultant image is also proposed. To automatically terminate the iterative procedures, the Mean Absolute Error as its stopping criterion was implemented. Results: Numerical results obtained by simulations unanimously indicate that the proposed method outperforms conventional speckle reduction techniques. Nevertheless, this preliminary study has been conducted based on a small number of asymptomatic subjects. Conclusion: Future work must investigate the feasibility of this method in a large cohort and its clinical validity through testing subjects with a symptomatic cartilage injury.


2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad S. Uddin ◽  
Murat Tahtali ◽  
Andrew J. Lambert ◽  
Mark R. Pickering ◽  
Margaret Marchese ◽  
...  

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