Contrast Enhancement for Hypoechoic Lesions

We propose a novel method for contrast enhancement in hypoechoic lesions. Our approach is based on the concept of distance on image manifolds to obtain a credibility function which captures the delineation of the lesion; if the lesion is sharply defined, the credibility function will also give a sharp response, whereas it varies smoothly at locations where no reliable information about the lesion´s perimeter exists due to shortcomings of image acquisition, or because the lesion´s border itself is only vaguely defined. The credibility function is used to either increase contrast of the lesion with respect to the adjacent tissue or to stain the lesion by a color overlay