Pseudobased coherent diffusion for robust real-time ultrasound speckle reduction

Khaled Z. Abd-Elmoniem; Abou-Bakr M. Youssef; Yasser M. Kadah

doi:10.1117/12.431156

3 July 2001 Pseudobased coherent diffusion for robust real-time ultrasound speckle reduction

Khaled Z. Abd-Elmoniem, Abou-Bakr M. Youssef, Yasser M. Kadah

Proceedings Volume 4322, Medical Imaging 2001: Image Processing; (2001) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.431156
Event: Medical Imaging 2001, 2001, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

We propose a novel technique for ultrasound speckle reduction based on iterative solutions to the coherent diffusion equation with the speckled image considered as the initial heat distribution. According to the extent of speckle, the model changes progressively from isotropic diffusion through anisotropic coherent diffusion to mean curvature motion. This structure maximally low-pass filters those parts of the image corresponding to fully-formed speckle, while preserving information associated with resolved object structures. The distance measure used to assess the deviation between images is embedded within the diffusivity tensor and is utilized as an intrinsic stopping criterion that ends the diffusion process completely in all directions when the deviation between the original and the filtered image exceeds the speckle limit. This model is termed pseudo-biased diffusion due to this unique formulation. Hence, there is no need for specifying the number of iterations in advance as with previous methods. Moreover, the steady state solution does not converge to the trivial single gray level solution, but rather to an image that is close in structure to the original but with speckle noise substantially reduced. Efficient discretization schemes allow large time steps to be used in obtaining the solution to achieve real-time processing.

Citation Download Citation

Khaled Z. Abd-Elmoniem, Abou-Bakr M. Youssef, and Yasser M. Kadah "Pseudobased coherent diffusion for robust real-time ultrasound speckle reduction", Proc. SPIE 4322, Medical Imaging 2001: Image Processing, (3 July 2001); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.431156

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available