Notice of Removal: Background-free visualization of microvasculature networks

Recent studies have shown the ability of concurrent spatial-temporal processing methods such as singular value decomposition (SVD) filtering in visualization of the small vessels without using any type of contrast agents. The vessel images resulting from SVD filtering suffer from local and global residual background that limit the visibility of the entire vessel networks within a fixed dynamic range. This mainly stems from ultrasonic intensity variations which are not accounted for in obtaining dominant singular values representing clutter signals. In this study, we present a novel approach for removal of local and global background signals and enhancement of the vascular objects. The final images present superb vessel background separation and make them suitable for further processing such as quantitative morphology analysis.