Advanced image enhancement filter for 2-D ultrasound images

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Ultrasound imaging provides a useful and cost effective way to obtain internal images of the body for medical applications and diagnosis of human health. In order to image the body with adequate resolution, the image quality becomes an important engineering objective. Decreased image quality from noise is detrimental to system performance, and can lead to misdiagnosis of disease and inaccurate measurement of internal organ properties. For example, if image quality was increased, medical Doctors and ultrasound technologists can better locate tumors or other abnormalities. This has significant benefit for health related applications such as early detection of disease. Current research in the area of image quality enhancement investigates the use of filters to reduce unwanted noise in ultrasound images. In particular, Ultrasonix Medical Corp. (Ultrasonix) is a Vancouver based company who implements real time filtering technology on its ultrasound systems in order to improve functionality to operators. Our objective is to design a custom filter to remove noise while preserving the original image quality as much as possible. This objective motivates the proposed research and development collaboration with Ultrasonix Medical Corp.