We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress hp
Sign In
Advertise with Us
GLOBETECH PUBLISHING LLC

Download Mobile App




Adding Color to Ultrasound Helps Differentiate Structures

By Daniel Beris
Posted on 15 Nov 2016
Print article
Image: An increase in fatty lipids in liver tissue is shown in blue using the H-scan format, compared to normal tissue (Photo courtesy of Professor Kevin Parker).
Image: An increase in fatty lipids in liver tissue is shown in blue using the H-scan format, compared to normal tissue (Photo courtesy of Professor Kevin Parker).
A new study describes how novel algorithms incorporate color identification into grey ultrasound (US) images, helping to differentiate fine details.

Developed by University of Rochester (NY, USA) researcher Professor Kevin Parker, PhD, the mathematical model is used to characterize US scattering behavior and visualize the results as color-coding of the B-scan image. The methodology, which uses a set of mathematical functions devised in 1890 by the great mathematician Charles Hermite of France, approximates the pulse-echo formation in typical situations. Professor Parker recognized that the Gaussian weighted Hermite functions closely approximated ultrasound pulses.

Currently, medical US imaging scanners typically display the envelope of the reflected signal on a log scale in shades of grey. But the properties of this image and speckle patterns result in an inability to differentiate between different scattering sources that may have fundamentally different frequency-dependent scattering cross sections. The new class of images, termed H-scan, can reveal information otherwise hidden in the conventional envelope display. The study was published in the June 2016 issue of Physics in Medicine & Biology.

“If you look at an ultrasound image of the liver, there are so many things in there – veins, arteries, biliary ducts, liver cells, perhaps some scar tissue – and they’re all just displayed as black and white blobs,” said Professor Parker, of the department of electrical and computer engineering. “If there’s a large artery, it’s easy to see the wall and the blood inside. But at the finer levels of detail, it is often impossible to tell if you’re looking at a smaller artery or 10 little cells.”

“By letting us see things we can’t see now, it could be very important to individual patients. I realized if we used these, it would make our analyses of ultrasound scattering easier,” concluded Professor Parker. “So now, instead of ultrasound images showing all of these tissue structures as black and white objects, we can now classify them mathematically (by their size) and assign unique colors to unique types of scatterers.”

Ultrasound uses pulses of high-frequency sound waves that bounce back echoes when they strike cells or arteries; these echoes are also known as scattered waves. With few exceptionssuch as Doppler-enhanced ultrasound imaging of blood flow – those features consist of varying shades of black, white, and gray reflecting different densities.

Related Links:
University of Rochester

New
HF Stationary X-Ray Machine
TR20G
Ultrasonic Pocket Doppler
SD1
New
Cylindrical Water Scanning System
SunSCAN 3D
Portable Color Doppler Ultrasound Scanner
DCU10

Print article

Channels

MRI

view channel
Image: Comparison showing 3T and 7T scans for the same participant (Photo courtesy of P Simon Jones/University of Cambridge)

Ultra-Powerful MRI Scans Enable Life-Changing Surgery in Treatment-Resistant Epileptic Patients

Approximately 360,000 individuals in the UK suffer from focal epilepsy, a condition in which seizures spread from one part of the brain. Around a third of these patients experience persistent seizures... Read more

Imaging IT

view channel
Image: The new Medical Imaging Suite makes healthcare imaging data more accessible, interoperable and useful (Photo courtesy of Google Cloud)

New Google Cloud Medical Imaging Suite Makes Imaging Healthcare Data More Accessible

Medical imaging is a critical tool used to diagnose patients, and there are billions of medical images scanned globally each year. Imaging data accounts for about 90% of all healthcare data1 and, until... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2025 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.