Ultrasonic Tissue Characterization

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Although not all clinical fields of UTC are covered by this review (e.g. skin, skeletal muscle, eye), it nevertheless may be evident that many interesting applications are emerging. The tendency of Industry to incorporate high performance, very powerful computing hardware into the echographic equipment might lead very soon to feasibility studies in which UTC is not only on-line, but even in real time available to the diagnostician. The author believes these will be the conditions that may induce clinical interest and thereby will bring about more and more clinical evidence and, in the end, broad acceptance. One of the major challenges still is to find the optimal set of UTC parameters to be used in “(multi)parametric imaging” (e.g. Schmitz and Ermert 1999; Valckx et al., 1996;2000). Indeed this set has to be established by analysing a high number of clinical cases and by comparison with some kind of gold standard. Further progress is to be expected from new techniques, which are being, introduced such as: elastography, contrast echography and second harmonic imaging. The introduction of these techniques has proceeded to a more or less clinical phase of explorations. Applications are proceeding towards the fields of tissue differentiation and tumour diagnosis. The elastography by assessing the hardness of tissues, the contrast echography and second harmonic imaging by improved contrast of (neo)vascularization of tissues and by dynamic flow and perfusion studies of tissues.