Comparison of edge detection algorithms in the framework of despeckling carotid ultrasound images based on bayesian estimation approach

Abstract

Common carotid artery (CCA) ultrasound with estimation of Intima Media Thickness (IMT) is the safe and non-invasive technique for predicting the cardiovascular risks. The precise quantification of IMT is useful for evaluating the risk of cardiovascular disease. The presence of speckle noise in carotid ultrasound image reduces the quality of the image and automatic human interpretation. Carotid ultrasound images have multiplicative speckle noise and it is difficult remove compared to the additive noises. The speckle removal filters have a greater restriction in edges and characteristics preservation. In this paper, we propose an extension of our earlier work with a fully automated Region of Interest (ROI) extraction and speckle denoising using optimized bayesian least square estimation (BLSE) approach followed by edge detection. The objective of the paper is to reduce the speckle noise in the extracted ROI of carotid ultrasound images using state-of-art denoising techniques and then followed by edge detection techniques and compared them with the edges extracted by these edge operators of ground truth image. The proposed algorithm experiments with 50 B-mode carotid ultrasound images. Experimental analysis shows that proposed method achieves better results as compared to other edge detection methods in terms of structural similarity Index Map (SSIM), correlation of coefficient (CoC), peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and mean square error (MSE) measures. Based on results, proposed work more effective in terms of visual inspection and detail preservation in carotid ultrasound images. � Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018.