Edge-guided CNN for Denoising Images from Portable Ultrasound Devices

Abstract

Ultrasound is a non-invasive tool that is useful for medical diagnosis and treatment. To reduce long wait times and add convenience to patients, portable ultrasound scanning devices are becoming increasingly popular. These devices can be held in one hand, and are compatible with modern cell phones. However, the quality of ultrasound images captured from the portable scanners is relatively poor compared to standard ultrasound scanning systems in hospitals. To improve the quality of the ultrasound images obtained from portable ultrasound devices, we propose a new neural network architecture called Edge-guided Denoising Convolutional Neural Network (EDCNN), which can preserve significant edge information in ultrasound images when removing noise. We also study and compare the effectiveness of existing deep learning methods and classical filtering approaches in removing speckle noise in these images. Experimental results show that after applying the proposed EDCNN, various organs can be better recognized from ultrasound images. This approach is expected to lead to better accuracy in diagnostics in the future.