Section 1: Image Formation and Preprocessing -- RF ultrasound estimation from B-mode images -- A Rayleigh Mixture Model for IVUS Imaging -- Ultrasound Speckle / Despeckle Image Decomposition for Tissue Analysis -- Section 2: Ultrasound Plaque Imaging -- Media and Intima Thickness and Texture Analysis of the Common Carotid Artery -- CAUDLES-EF: Carotid Automated Ultrasound Double Line Extraction System using Edge Flow -- Activity Index: a tool to identify active carotid plaques -- Coronary Atherosclerotic Plaque Characterization by Intravascular Ultrasound -- Three-Dimensional Ultrasound Plaque Characterization -- Comparison Between Manual And Automated Analysis For The Quantification Of Carotid Wall By Using Sonography. A validation study with CT -- Section 3: Ultrasound Advanced Applications -- Real Time 4D Cardiac Segmentation by Active Geometric Functions -- Classification and Staging of Chronic Liver Disease based on Ultrasound, Laboratorial and Clinical Data -- Assessment of Bone Healing Using Ultrasound -- Image-Guided Cryoablation of the Prostate -- Applications of Multiscale Overcomplete Wavelet-Based Representations in Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS) Images.

Ultrasound Imaging: Advances and Applications presents some of the recent advances in Ultrasound imaging technology covering several organs and techniques in a Biomedical Engineering (BME) perspective. The focus of the book is in the algorithms, methodologies and systems developed by multidisciplinary research teams of engineers and physicians for Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) purposes. Cardiovascular and Cancer, the most common life-threatening diseases in western countries, are two of the most important topics focused in the book. However, other advanced issues are also presented such as Intravascular Ultrasound, 3D US and Ultrasound in Computer-Aided Surgery (CAS).  Some chapters are direct contributions from medical research groups where Ultrasound has also received great attention in the last decade. By this, new techniques based on Ultrasound were introduced in the clinical practice for diagnosis and therapeutics, mainly in hospital facilities.