Three-dimensional Quantitative Ultrasound Imaging Based on Nakagami Distribution and Its Applications to Biological Tissues
Date Issued
2009
Date
2009
Author(s)
Xu, Zheng-Wei
Abstract
Nowadays, ultrasound imaging has become the most used clinical tool in hospitals. The ultrasonic B-mode image is used to examine the internal structures of the biological tissue. Due to the fact that the conventional B-scan cannot fully reflect the nature of the tissue, some useful quantitative method has been applied to quantify the properties of tissue. Among various possibilities, the Nakagami parameter was demonstrated to have an outstanding ability to detect the variation of the scatterer concentration. The ultrasonic Nakagami imaging based on the Nakagami parametric map has also been developed for visualizing the scatterer properties. In order to improve the Nakagami imaging resolution and involve more information from biological tissues, this study was aimed to further develop three-dimensional Nakagami image. In this study, phantom experiments and in vitro measurements on liver fibrosis were carried out to explore the feasibility of the three-dimensional Nakagami image. The ultrasonic backscattered signals were acquired from phantoms with different scatterer concentrations to evaluate an appropriate voxel size for constructing the three-dimensional Nakagami image. The result showed that the voxel with a volume corresponding to 8 times that of the transducer resolution cell is the most appropriate size for constructing the three-dimensional Nakagami image. In such a condition, the two-dimensional Nakagami image can get a better spatial resolution.e then used the same voxel size to create the three-dimensional Nakagami images of rat livers with varying degrees of fibrosis. Then we compare the Nakagami parameter values of different rat livers with their Hematoxylin & Eosin stain and Masson''s trichrome stain results. The results showed that three-dimensional Nakagami image indeed can quantify different stages of liver fibrosis. Moreover, it has a better image resolution and also reduces the subresolvable effect of two-dimensional Nakagami image. In such a condition, the three-dimensional Nakagami image provided more information of tissues and organs, and it may have potential in future developments of diagnostic techniques.
Subjects
Ultrasound image
Ultrasonic backscattering
Nakagami distribution
Three-dimensional quantitative image
Liver fibrosis
Type
thesis
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