查看文章

Ultrasound is an imaging modality widely used for clinical applications such as disease diagnosing and tissue characterization. The quality of ultrasound images is generally restricted by speckle noise, which degrades the quality of not only conventional ultrasonographic imaging but also novel quantitative ultrasound techniques. In this work, we used both frequency and spatial plane wave compounding to improve the quality of nonlinearity parameter (B/A) imaging. In silico backscattered echo data were acquired by simulating a linear array transducer and a media excited with a 5 MHz pulse at two excitation peak pressures, 80 kPa and 400 kPa. A nonuniform nonlinear simulated media was composed of an 18-mm diameter circular inclusion (with B/A=11) in an otherwise uniform background (with B/A = 6). Using plane wave compounding with 21 plane waves allowed reducing the standard deviation of the resulting …