Estimation of the Nakagami parameter from log-compressed ultrasonic backscattered envelopes (L)

摘要

In commercial medical ultrasonic imaging systems, B mode images are displayed with the log-compressed backscattered envelope. While the Nakagami distribution can describe the statistics of the backscattered envelope, this nonlinear compression of the envelope modifies the statistics of the image pixels from the Nakagami distribution. An estimation of the Nakagami parameter from the log-compressed data has been undertaken, enabling its application in tissue classification. Results based on random number and A-line simulations indicate that the Nakagami parameter m can be easily obtained from the log-compressed data. The values of the parameter estimated from the log-compressed data are very close to those obtained directly from the envelope. This suggests the use of Nakagami statistics based techniques for tissue characterization even when rf data are not available.