It is well known that speckle is a multiplicative noise that degrades image and video quality and the visual expert's evaluation in ultrasound imaging and video. This necessitates the need for robust despeckling image and video techniques for both routine clinical practice and tele-consultation. The goal for this book (book 1 of 2 books) is to introduce the problem of speckle occurring in ultrasound image and video as well as the theoretical background (equations), the algorithmic steps, and the MATLABTM code for the following group of despeckle filters: linear filtering, nonlinear filtering, anisotropic diffusion filtering, and wavelet filtering. This book proposes a comparative evaluation framework of these despeckle filters based on texture analysis, image quality evaluation metrics, and visual evaluation by medical experts. Despeckle noise reduction through the application of these filters will improve the visual observation quality or it may be used as a pre-processing step for further automated analysis, such as image and video segmentation, and texture characterization in ultrasound cardiovascular imaging, as well as in bandwidth reduction in ultrasound video transmission for telemedicine applications. The aforementioned topics will be covered in detail in the companion book to this one. Furthermore, in order to facilitate further applications we have developed in MATLABTM two different toolboxes that integrate image (IDF) and video (VDF) despeckle filtering, texture analysis, and image and video quality evaluation metrics. The code for these toolsets is open source and these are available to download complementary to the two books. Table of Contents: Preface / Acknowledgments / List of Symbols / List of Abbreviations / Introduction to Speckle Noise in Ultrasound Imaging and Video / Basics of Evaluation Methodology / Linear Despeckle Filtering / Nonlinear Despeckle Filtering / Diffusion Despeckle Filtering / Wavelet Despeckle Filtering / Evaluation of Despeckle Filtering / Summary and Future Directions / References / Authors' Biographies

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Christos P. Loizou received his B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering, a Dipl-Ing (M.Sc.) degree in computer science and telecommunications from the University of Kaisserslautern, Kaisserslautern, Germany, and his Ph.D. degree on ultrasound image analysis of the carotid artery from the Department of Computer Science, Kingston University, London, UK, in 1986, 1990, and 2005, respectively. From 1996- 2000,he was a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science, Higher Technical Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus. Since 2000, he has been at the Department of Computer Science, Intercollege, Cyprus and is now a campus program coordinator. Since 2005, he has also been an Adjunct Professor of Medical Image and video processing, in the Department of Electrical Engineering, and Computer Engineering and Informatics, Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus. He has also been an Associated Researcher at the Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Nicosia, Cyprus since 2000. Dr. Loizou was a supervisor of a number of Ph.D. and B.Sc. students in the area of computer image analysis and telemedicine. He was involved in the research activity of several scientific Cypriot and European research projects and has authored or co-authored 28 referred journals, 54 conference papers, 3 books, and 10 book chapters in the fields of image and video analysis. His current research interests include medical imaging, signal, image and video processing, motion and video analysis, pattern recognition, and biosignal analysis in ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging, and computer applications in medicine. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE, serves as a reviewer in many IEEE Transactions and other journals and is a chair and co-chair at many IEEE conferences. He lives in Limassol, Cyprus, with his wife and children, a boy and a girl.Constantinos S. Pattichis was born in Cyprus on January 30, 1959 and received his diploma as technician engineer from the Higher Technical Institute in Cyprus in 1979, a B.Sc. inelectrical engineering from the University of New Brunswick, Canada, in 1983, the M.Sc. in biomedical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, USA, in 1984, an M.Sc. in neurology from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK, in 1991, and his Ph.D. in electronic engineering from the University of London, UK, in 1992. He is currently a Professor with the Department of Computer Science of the University of Cyprus. His research interests include ehealth and mhealth, medical imaging, biosignal analysis, life sciences informatics, and intelligent systems. He has been involved in numerous projects in these areas funded by EU, the National Research Foundation of Cyprus, the INTERREG and other bodies, like the FISTAR, GRANATUM, LINKED2SAFETY, MEDUCATOR, LONG LASTING MEMORIES, INTRAMEDNET, INTERMED, FUTURE HEALTH, AMBULANCE, EMERGENCY, ACSRS, TELEGYN, HEALTHNET, IASIS, IPPOKRATIS, and others with a total funding managed of more than 6 million Euros. He has published 90 refereed journal and 200 conference papers, and 27 chapters in books in these areas.