Echographic Image Processing

Publisher Summary The introduction of the concept of gray-scale echography and the development of scan converters for echographic imaging enabled the display of parenchymal tissues in addition to the outlining of the gross anatomy of organs. By using a simplified concept of the biological tissue, which is generally called an “acoustic tissue model,” the interaction mechanisms of ultrasound with tissue can be formulated analytically. The attenuating and backscattering characteristics may then be assessed quantitatively. Moreover, the involvement of the equipment performance and of the attenuation in the acquired echosignals can be compensated for. This chapter analyzes the echographic images resulting from these processing steps. The image analysis yields statistical texture descriptors that have been shown to be relevant for improving echographic diagnosis. The method of processing of B-mode (i.e., 2-dimensional) echograms is either to modify the original, preprocessed images for enhancing the visual diagnosis or else is used to generate parametric images.