Three-dimensional speckle reducing anisotropic diffusion

The two-dimensional speckle reducing anisotropic diffusion (SRAD) algorithm developed for despeckling ultrasound imagery to obtain a SRAD algorithm capable of enhancing volumetric ultrasound data is presented in this paper. First, an instantaneous coefficient of variation edge detector appropriate for 3D data set presented. Then, the 3D SRAD partial differential equation is formulated by replacing the gradient operator in the traditional diffusion mechanism with the derived 3D ICOV operator. We demonstrate the performance of the 3D SRAD using synthetic 3D ultrasound data acquired from an ellipsoid and real data acquired from the left ventricle (LV) of a murine heart.