Enhancement of Bone Surface Visualization from 3d Ultrasound Based on Local Phase Information

Identification and localization of bone surfaces in ultrasound (US) images is an essential step in US-based image guided orthopedic procedures. However, US images often depict bones poorly compared to other medical imaging modalities, such as computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance (MR), because of speckle, reverberation, shadowing and other artifacts. As a result, accurate, robust and automatic localization of bone in US images remains a challenge. In this paper, we propose the use of phase congruency, a feature invariant to changes in image brightness or contrast, to enhance bone surface localization and visualization in 3D US images. The potential of the method is demonstrated through experiments in vitro and in vivo, with the results compared to conventional gradientand edge-based bone localization approaches. These preliminary results show good performance of the proposed technique, suggesting it has promise in a clinical setting.