Fractal Analysis of Elastographic Images for Automatic Detection of Diffuse Diseases of Salivary Glands: Preliminary Results. (16th May 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Badea, Alexandru Florin; Lupsor Platon, Monica; Crisan, Maria; Cattani, Carlo; Badea, Iulia; Pierro, Gaetano; Sannino, Gianpaolo; Baciut, Grigore
• Other Names: Chen Shengyong Academic Editor.
• Is Part Of: Computational and mathematical methods in medicine. Volume 2013(2013)
• Publication Date: 2013-05-16
• Subjects: Medicine -- Computer simulation -- Periodicals; Medicine -- Mathematical models -- Periodicals; 610.11
• DOI: 10.1155/2013/347238
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1748-670X

Abstract

Abstract : The geometry of some medical images of tissues, obtained by elastography and ultrasonography, is characterized in terms of complexity parameters such as the fractal dimension (FD). It is well known that in any image there are very subtle details that are not easily detectable by the human eye. However, in many cases like medical imaging diagnosis, these details are very important since they might contain some hidden information about the possible existence of certain pathological lesions like tissue degeneration, inflammation, or tumors. Therefore, an automatic method of analysis could be an expedient tool for physicians to give a faultless diagnosis. The fractal analysis is of great importance in relation to a quantitative evaluation of "real-time" elastography, a procedure considered to be operator dependent in the current clinical practice. Mathematical analysis reveals significant discrepancies among normal and pathological image patterns. The main objective of our work is to demonstrate the clinical utility of this procedure on an ultrasound image corresponding to a submandibular diffuse pathology.