Post-processing approaches for the improvement of cardiac ultrasound B-mode images: a review

The improvement of the quality and diagnostic value of ultrasound images has been an ongoing research theme for the last three decades. Cardiac ultrasound suffers from a wide range of artefacts such as acoustic noise, shadowing and enhancement. Most artefacts are a consequence of the interaction of the transmitted ultrasound signals with anatomic structures of the examined body. Structures such as bone, lungs (air) and fat have a direct limiting effect on the quality of the acquired images. Furthermore, physical phenomena like speckle introduce a granular pattern on the imaged tissue structures that can sometimes obscure fine anatomic detail. Over the years, numerous studies have attempted to address a range of artefacts in medical ultrasound, including cardiac ultrasound B-mode images. This review provides extensive coverage of such attempts identifying their limitations as well as future research opportunities.