Morphological image sharpening by double structuring elements for ultrasound images

We discuss a new morphological operations using double structuring elements (DSEs) and apply them to image sharpening of ultrasound B-mode images with speckle pattern. The DSEs, a couple of two different structuring elements, varying with the local characteristics of the input image, yield an edge-sharpening effect. General single structuring element does not have the sharpening function. Our method improves contrast at the tissue boundary without speckle emphasis and does not generate overshoot nor undershoot around the boundary. We demonstrate its effectiveness in experiments using human thyroid images.