Ultrasound imaging system and method for spatial compounding

Abstract

An ultrasound imaging system is provided along with a method for spatially compounding a plurality of ultrasound images in an elevation dimension. The ultrasound imaging system and method reduce image speckle. The ultrasound imaging system may include a transducer in electrical communication with an ultrasound system controller configured to generate, transmit, and receive a series of ultrasound energy pulses. The ultrasound system controller is further configured to recover image information using beamforming techniques from steered or focused ultrasound imaging planes prior to spatial compounding of a plurality of image frames. The present invention may also be broadly viewed as providing a method for ultrasound imaging. Briefly stated, the method comprises the following steps: generating a transmit scan beam; generating a plurality of ultrasound response scan beams originating from spatially separated vantage points such that corresponding response scan beams converge at the transmit scan beam; deriving image information from the plurality of ultrasound response scan beams; and compounding the image information in the elevation direction.