Methods and systems for processing an ultrasound image

A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising processor-executable instructions for performing off-axis clutter filtering in an ultrasound image, which when executed cause a processor or controller to:

• obtain channel data from an ultrasonic probe defining a set of imaged points, wherein the ultrasonic probe comprises an array of transducer elements;
• for each imaged point in a region of interest:
• isolate the channel data associated with said imaged point;
• perform a spatial spectral estimation of the isolated channel data to identify one or more spatial-frequency components of the isolated channel data;
• and
• selectively attenuate the one or more spatial-frequency components of the isolated channel data by way of an attenuation coefficient based on the spatial spectral estimation, thereby generating filtered channel data;
• and
• sum the filtered channel data associated with each imaged point of said set of imaged points, thereby generating a filtered ultrasound image.

A controller for controlling the filtering of off-axis clutter in an ultrasound image, wherein the controller is adapted to:

• obtain channel data from an ultrasonic probe defining a set of imaged points;
• for each imaged point in a region of interest:
• isolate the channel data associated with said imaged point;
• perform a spatial spectral estimation of the isolated channel data to identify one or more spatial-frequency components of the isolated channel data;
• and
• selectively attenuate the one or more spatial-frequency components of the isolated channel data by way of an attenuation coefficient based on the spatial spectral estimation, thereby generating filtered channel data;
• and
• sum the filtered channel data associated with each imaged point of said set of imaged points, thereby generating a filtered ultrasound image.