Determination of a mean sound velocity in the female breast for artifact reduction in Full Angle Spatial Compounding

In Full Angle Spatial Compounding (FASC) single ultrasound images from aspect angles all around an object are incoherently superimposed to achieve a higher image quality. To apply FASC to breast imaging, we developed an add-on system to a conventional ultrasound echo scanner. With this system also the distribution of Speed of Sound (SoS) inside the breast can be reconstructed using a reflector behind the breast. Next to diagnostics, SoS-images are used to geometrically correct FASC-images and avoid artifacts. However, since attenuation in the breast and reflections at its boundary are high, the detection of the reflector and the SoS-reconstruction may fail. To still correct FASC-images, we developed an image based method to compute a mean SoS for the breast on the basis of a typical double-line artifact in the FASC-image.