Fundamental correlation lengths of coherent speckle in medical ultrasonic images

Refinements to previous analyses of the natural correlation lengths within simple images and between images to be compounded are presented. Comparison of theoretical and experimental results show very good agreement for the case of Rayleigh scattering media: the correlation length within a simple image is comparable to the resolution cell size; the correlation length between images to be spatially compounded is comparable to, but smaller than, the transducer on array aperture; and the correlation length between images to be frequency-compounded becomes a frequency comparable to their bandwidth. Complications arising from the presence of specular scattering or due to the presence of just a few scatterers are considered. It is shown that straightforward solutions exist for either of these problems taken by itself. When they occur in combination, calibration techniques may lead to unambiguous identification of the contributions to the scattering from diffuse or incoherent scattering and from specular or coherent scattering, and to estimation of the density of diffuse scatterers.<<ETX>>

[1]  G E Trahey,et al.  A Quantitative Approach to Speckle Reduction via Frequency Compounding , 1986, Ultrasonic imaging.

[2]  R. F. Wagner,et al.  Low Contrast Detectability and Contrast/Detail Analysis in Medical Ultrasound , 1983, IEEE Transactions on Sonics and Ultrasonics.

[3]  C. R. Hill,et al.  Acoustic properties of normal and cancerous human liver-I. Dependence on pathological condition. , 1981, Ultrasound in medicine & biology.

[4]  C. Burckhardt.  Speckle in ultrasound B-mode scans , 1978, IEEE Transactions on Sonics and Ultrasonics.

[5]  S.W. Smith,et al.  Speckle Pattern Correlation with Lateral Aperture Translation: Experimental Results and Implications for Spatial Compounding , 1986, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[6]  P.M. Shankar,et al.  Speckle Reduction with Improved Resolution in Ultrasound Images , 1985, IEEE Transactions on Sonics and Ultrasonics.

[7]  J C Bamber,et al.  Ultrasonic B-scanning: a computer simulation , 1980, Physics in medicine and biology.

[8]  J. Goodman.  Statistical Properties of Laser Speckle Patterns , 1963 .

[9]  Seth D. Silverstein.  Coherence and speckle reduction in compounded correlated phased arrays: synthetic aperture radar , 1986 .

[10]  Acoustic backscattering from ultrasonically tissuelike media. , 1982, Medical physics.

[11]  H Lopez,et al.  Frequency independent ultrasound contrast-detail analysis. , 1985, Ultrasound in medicine & biology.

[12]  F. G. Sommer,et al.  Ultrasonic Characterization of Tissue Structure in the In Vivo Human Liver and Spleen , 1984, IEEE Transactions on Sonics and Ultrasonics.

[13]  M S Patterson,et al.  Computer Simulations of Speckle in B-Scan Images , 1983, Ultrasonic imaging.

[14]  Michael F. Insana,et al.  Analysis of ultrasound image texture via generalized rician statistics , 1986 .

[15]  E. Madsen,et al.  Quantitative Tests of a Three-Dimensional Gray Scale Texture Model , 1985 .

[16]  F. G. Sommer,et al.  Ultrasonic characterization of abdominal tissues via digital analysis of backscattered waveforms. , 1981, Radiology.

[17]  G. Glover,et al.  Textural Variations in B-Mode Ultrasonography: A Stochastic Model , 1981 .

[18]  R. F. Wagner,et al.  Unified Approach to the Detection and Classification of Speckle Texture in Diagnostic Ultrasound , 1985, Optics & Photonics.

[19]  J M Thijssen,et al.  Texture of B-mode echograms: 3-D simulations and experiments of the effects of diffraction and scatterer density. , 1985, Ultrasonic imaging.

[20]  D. Middleton.  An Introduction to Statistical Communication Theory , 1960 .

[21]  P. A. Magnin,et al.  A-Mode Speckle Reduction with Compound Frequencies and Compound Bandwidths , 1984 .

[22]  J E Heiserman,et al.  Ultrasonic tissue characterization: detection of acute myocardial ischemia in dogs. , 1985, Circulation.

[23]  W. A. Verhoef,et al.  Texture of B-Mode Echograms: 3-D Simulations and Experiments of the Effects of Diffraction and Scatterer Density , 1985 .

[24]  E. Madsen,et al.  Tissue mimicking materials for ultrasound phantoms. , 1978, Medical physics.

[25]  J. Bendat,et al.  Random Data: Analysis and Measurement Procedures , 1971 .

[26]  E. Madsen,et al.  A three dimensional model for generating the texture in B-scan ultrasound images. , 1982, Ultrasonic imaging (Print).

[27]  R. F. Wagner,et al.  Statistics of Speckle in Ultrasound B-Scans , 1983, IEEE Transactions on Sonics and Ultrasonics.

[28]  R. F. Wagner,et al.  Ultrasound speckle size and lesion signal to noise ratio: verification of theory. , 1984, Ultrasonic imaging.

[29]  E. Jakeman,et al.  Speckle Statistics With A Small Number Of Scatterers , 1980, Optics & Photonics.