Speckle in ultraound imaging (and all coherent imaging systems) is caused by the interference of energy from randomly distributed scatters, too small to be resolved by the imaging system. Speckle degrades both the spatial and contrast resolution in ultrasound images and thereby reduces the diagnostic value of the images. The intent of speckle reduction is to remove the distracting speckle pattern without reducing the detail in the ultrasound image. In other words, to make ultrasound images easier to "read". The following images show examples of images before and after speckle reduction. The technique used is called "Geometric Filtering" and it was developed and first applied to radar images by Tom Crimmins, at the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM).
Example images collected using a 3.5MHz Curved Linear Array showing the Liver and Kidney anatomy.
4 full size images. 116 Kbytes.
4 half size images. 39 Kbytes.
Example images collected using a 10.0 MHz Linear Array showing the carotid and thyroid anatomy.
4 full size images. 94 Kbytes.
4 half size images. 34 Kbytes.
Copyright 1995, TETRAD Corporation
This work was supported by Grant CA-51581 from the National Cancer Institute.
