title: Speckle reduction in optical coherence tomography images using tissue viscoelasticity.
abstract: We present a technique to reduce speckle in optical coherence tomography images of soft tissues. An average is formed over a set of B-scans that have been decorrelated by viscoelastic creep strain. The necessary correction for the deformation-induced spatial distortions between B-scans is achieved through geometrical co-registration using an affine transformation. Speckle reduction by up to a factor of 1.65 is shown in images of tissue-mimicking soft fibrin phantoms and excised human lymph node tissue with no observable loss of spatial resolution.
authors.forename: Brendan F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Kennedy
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Curatolo
authors.forename: Timothy R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Hillman
authors.forename: Christobel M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Saunders
authors.forename: David D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Sampson
mesh_terms: D016477:Artifacts; D055119:Elastic Modulus / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D014783:Viscosity