Ultrasound-based lipid content quantification using double Nakagami distribution model in rat liver steatosis. (22nd May 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tamura, Kazuki; Mamou, Jonathan; Yoshida, Kenji; Hachiya, Hiroyuki; Yamaguchi, Tadashi
• Is Part Of: Japanese journal of applied physics. Volume 59:Number SK(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-05-22
• Subjects: high-frequency ultrasound -- quantitative tissue characterization -- envelope statistics -- fatty liver; Physics -- Periodicals; 621.05
• DOI: 10.35848/1347-4065/ab918e
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0021-4922

Abstract

Abstract: Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) methods have been widely used for soft tissue characterization. Spatial resolution (i.e. ultrasound frequency) is an important factor for QUS methods. In a previous study, a double Nakagami (DN) distribution model to echo signals from fatty livers using a 15 MHz transducer was used to permit fine-resolution QUS. This study used a filtering approach to quantify steatosis progression using three QUS parameters obtained by fitting a DN distribution model to experimental envelope data. The filter was designed using QUS parameters obtained from three healthy liver. A strong correlation ( r = 0.96, p < 0.001) was found between histologically quantified steatosis percentage and the percentage of the liver having non-healthy liver features. This approach was able to successfully diagnose fatty livers (>20% steatosis percentage) in a dataset of 12 livers ranging from 0% to 90% steatosis.