Speckle reduction in ultrasound endoscopy using refraction based elevational angular compounding
Afshari P, Zakian C, Bachmann J, Ntziachristos V (2021)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2021
Journal
Book Volume: 11
Article Number: 18370
Journal Issue: 1
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-97717-2
Abstract
Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) is a safe, real-time diagnostic and therapeutic tool. Speckle noise, inherent to ultrasonography, degrades the diagnostic precision of EUS. Elevational angular compounding (EAC) can provide real-time speckle noise reduction; however, EAC has never been applied to EUS because current implementations require costly and bulky arrays and are incompatible with the tight spatial constraints of hollow organs. Here we develop a radial implementation of a refraction-based elevational angular compounding technique (REACT) for EUS and demonstrate for the first time spatial compounding in a radial endoscopy. The proposed implementation was investigated in cylindrical phantoms and demonstrated superior suppression of ultrasound speckle noise and up to a two-fold improvement in signal- and contrast- ratios, compared to standard image processing techniques and averaging. The effect of elevational angular deflection on image fidelity was further investigated in a phantom with lymph node-like structures to determine the optimum elevational angular width for high speckle reduction efficiency while maintaining image fidelity. This study introduces REACT as a potential compact and low-cost solution to impart current radial echo-endoscopes with spatial compounding, which could enable accurate identification and precise sizing of lymph nodes in staging of gastrointestinal tract cancers.
Involved external institutions
Germany (DE)How to cite
APA:
Afshari, P., Zakian, C., Bachmann, J., & Ntziachristos, V. (2021). Speckle reduction in ultrasound endoscopy using refraction based elevational angular compounding. Scientific Reports, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97717-2
MLA:
Afshari, Parastoo, et al. "Speckle reduction in ultrasound endoscopy using refraction based elevational angular compounding." Scientific Reports 11.1 (2021).
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