Enhanced Denoising of Ultrasonic Attenuation Images Through Robust Joint Reconstruction

Edmundo A. Miranda, Jose Timana, Adrian Basarab, Roberto Lavarello

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

The attenuation coefficient slope (ACS) is a parameter used in quantitative ultrasound for tissue characterization. A previous study proposed a multi-frequency framework (WTNV-SLD) for the joint denoising of the spectral ratios by exploiting structural similarities, using a weighted total nuclear variation to improve the quality of the ACS images. This study introduces RobTNV-SLD, a spatially robust estimation method to enhance the denoising of ultrasonic attenuation images, particularly under non-homogeneous conditions such as variable brightness, by incorporating spatial prior and adaptive channel weighting applied with a Lorentzian M-estimator. Metrics were compared to the WTNV-SLD with data from simulated and tissue-mimicking phantoms considering hypoechoic and hyperechoic inclusions. Both techniques reported a comparable estimation bias less than 15% in the simulation and tissue-mimicking phantoms. Nonetheless, in the simulation, RobTNV-SLD achieved a lower root mean square error on the axial profile than WTNV-SLD of 0.194 vs 0.284, reducing the artifacts in boundaries. In the tissue-mimicking phantom, RobTNV-SLD yielded a lower RMS in the axial profile of 0.271 vs 0.409. Thus, providing a superior differentiation of inclusion and background and improved robustness against outliers as artifacts related to non-constant backscatter values and boundary regions.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2024 IEEE UFFC Latin America Ultrasonics Symposium, LAUS 2024 - Proceedings
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)9798350349085
DOIs
StatePublished - 2024
Event2nd IEEE UFFC Latin America Ultrasonics Symposium, LAUS 2024 - Montevideo, Uruguay
Duration: 8 May 202410 May 2024

Publication series

Name2024 IEEE UFFC Latin America Ultrasonics Symposium, LAUS 2024 - Proceedings

Conference

Conference2nd IEEE UFFC Latin America Ultrasonics Symposium, LAUS 2024
Country/TerritoryUruguay
CityMontevideo
Period8/05/2410/05/24

Keywords

  • joint reconstruction
  • Quantitative ultrasound
  • robust regularization
  • signal-to-noise ratio deviation
  • ultrasonic attenuation imaging
  • weighted total nuclear variation

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