Patent ID: 8346007

Claim:
A method for suppressing noise in a diagnostic 3-D image, comprising: accessing for each of a plurality of projection angles, 2-D image projection data, each 2-D image projection having a central pixel; arranging the captured 2-D image projection data in an electronic memory accessible to the logic processor to form a 3-D data set; processing the image projection data for each of the 2-D image projections of the 3-D data set by performing a diffusion filtering process comprising: obtaining a homogeneity value for the 3-D data set; generating a diffusion conductance function according to an intensity gradient between adjacent digital image elements from the projection data; and applying the diffusion filtering process to a plurality of digital image elements according to the obtained homogeneity value, the generated diffusion conductance function, and a weighting value that relates to the distance of each pixel in the projection from the central pixel; reconstructing the diagnostic 3-D image from the processed 2-D image projection data; and transmitting, storing, or displaying the reconstructed diagnostic 3-D image.