Attenuation Coefficient Measurement in the Thyroid

Fujii, Yasutomo; Taniguchi, Nobuyuki; Itoh, Kouichi; Omoto, Kiyoka

doi:10.7863/jum.2003.22.10.1067

Cited by 14 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…The mean attenuation slope value from the estimates from all the thyroids in the frequency range between 25 and 45 MHz was 1.19 ± 0.256 dB/MHz/cm and this value was used for attenuation compensation when calculating the backscatter coefficient. Similar values of attenuation in human thyroids have been estimated, i.e., 0.91 to 1.5 dB/MHz/cm when operating at 10 MHz [Fuji et al, 2003]. …”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 64%

Characterization of Thyroid Cancer in Mouse Models Using High-Frequency Quantitative Ultrasound Techniques

Lavarello

Ridgway

Sarwate

et al. 2013

Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology

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Currently, the evaluation of thyroid cancer relies on the use of fine needle aspiration biopsy as non-invasive imaging methods do not provide sufficient levels of accuracy for the diagnosis of this disease. In this study, the potential of quantitative ultrasound methods for characterizing thyroid tissues was studied using a rodent model ex vivo. A high-frequency ultrasonic scanning system (40 MHz) was used to scan thyroids extracted from mice that had spontaneously developed thyroid lesions (cancerous or benign). Three sets of mice were acquired having different predispositions to developing thyroid anomalies (a C-cell adenoma, a papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), and a follicular variant papillary thyroid carcinoma (FV-PTC)). A fourth set of mice did not develop thyroid anomalies (normal mice) and were used as controls. The backscatter coefficient was estimated from excised thyroid lobes for the different mice. From the backscatter coefficient versus frequency (25 to 45 MHz), the effective scatterer diameter (ESD) and effective acoustic concentration (EAC) were estimated. From the envelope of the backscattered signal, the homodyned K distribution was used to estimate the k parameter (ratio of coherent to incoherent signal energy) and the μ parameter (number of scatterers per resolution cell). Statistically significant differences were observed between the malignant thyroids and the normal thyroids based on the ESD, EAC and μ parameters. The mean values of the ESDs were 18.0 ± 0.92, 15.9 ± 0.81, and 21.5 ± 1.80 µm for the PTC, FV-PTC and the normal thyroids, respectively. The mean values of the EACs were 59.4 ± 1.74, 62.7 ± 1.61, and 52.9 ± 3.42 dB (mm−3) for the PTC, FV-PTC and the normal thyroids, respectively. The mean values of the μ parameters were 2.55 ± 0.37, 2.59 ± 0.43, and 1.56 ± 0.99 for the PTC, FV-PTC and the normal thyroids, respectively. Statistically significant differences were observed between the malignant thyroids and the C-cell adenomas based on the ESD and EAC parameters with estimated values for the ESD of 21.3 ± 1.50 µm and EAC of 54.7 ± 2.24 dB (mm−3) for the C-cell adenomas. These results suggest that high frequency quantitative ultrasound may enhance the ability to detect and classify diseased thyroid tissues.

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Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 64%

Characterization of Thyroid Cancer in Mouse Models Using High-Frequency Quantitative Ultrasound Techniques

Lavarello

Ridgway

Sarwate

et al. 2013

Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology

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“…Several studies have performed attenuation estimation in liver [5,6,7,8,9], thyroid [10,11], breast [12,13,14], spleen [15], muscle [16], skin [17,18], cervical and uterine tissues [19,20] and small plaques [21]. A related parameter is the total attenuation that an ultrasonic wave experiences from the surface of the transducer to a region of analysis within a tissue of interest.…”

Section: Studies On Attenuation Coefficient Estimationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regularized Spectral Log Difference Technique for Ultrasonic Attenuation Imaging

Coila

Lavarello

2018

IEEE Trans. Ultrason., Ferroelect., Freq. Contr.

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The attenuation coefficient slope (ACS) has the potential to be used for tissue characterization and as a diagnostic ultrasound tool, hence complementing B-mode images. The ACS can be valuable for the estimation of other ultrasound parameters such as the backscatter coefficient. There is a well-known tradeoff between the precision of the estimated ACS values and the data block size used in the spectral-based techniques such as the spectral-log difference (SLD). This tradeoff limits the practical usefulness of the spectral-based attenuation imaging techniques. In this paper, the regularized SLD (RSLD) technique is presented in detail, and evaluated with simulations and experiments with physical phantoms, ex vivo and in vivo. The RSLD technique allowed decreasing estimation variance when using small data block sizes, i.e., fivefold reduction in the standard deviation of percentage error when using data block sizes larger than and more than a tenfold reduction when using data blocks. The precision improvement was obtained without sacrificing estimation accuracy (i.e., estimation bias improved in 70% of the cases by 10% of the ground truth-value on average while degraded in 30% of the cases by 3% of the ground truth-value on average). The improvements in precision allowed for better differentiation of inclusions especially when using small data blocks (i.e., smaller than ) where the contrast-to-noise ratio improved by an order of magnitude on average. The results suggest that the RSLD allows for the reconstruction of attenuation coefficient images with an improved tradeoff between spatial resolution and estimation precision.

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“…Attenuation coefficients have been proposed as potential tools for predicting cervical ripening in rats [4] and humans [5]. The possibility to differentiate between Graves' and Hashimoto's thyroid disease based on ACS estimates has been explored [6]. In addition, the accurate estimation of attenuation coefficients has been shown to be a determining factor on the precision of similar parameter estimation, e.g., backscatter coefficients (BSC) [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving the quality of attenuation imaging using full angular spatial compounding

Zenteno

Luchies

Oelze

et al. 2014

2014 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium

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The quantitative imaging of attenuation coefficients slope (ACS) has the potential to improve medical diagnostics. However, attempts to characterize ACS using pulse-echo data have been limited by the large statistical variations in the estimates. Previous studies demonstrated that it is possible to extend the trade-off between variance and spatial resolution of quantitative ultrasound, spectral-based parameters by the use of full angular (i.e., 360•) spatial compounding (FASC). In the present work, the use of FASC has been extended to the estimation of ACS and its performance has been experimentally evaluated using two physical phantoms. The ACSs of the background and inclusion regions were estimated using insertion loss measurements to be 0.41 and 0.75 dB/cm/MHz for Phantom #1, and 0.54 and 1.04 dB/cm/MHz for Phantom #2, respectively. Pulseecho data were collected using a 7.5 MHz, f/4 transducer at 30 angles of view uniformly distributed between 0 and 360º. Single view ACS maps were generated using a spectral log difference method with 0.6 by 0.6 mm data blocks. The FASC images were constructed by assigning to a pixel the median of its corresponding estimates from all 30 angles of view. The reduction in the variance of the FASC estimates compared to the variance of estimates from a single view (i.e., variance averaged from the 30 single views) in the inclusion and background regions were 89.18% and 88.71% for Phantom #1 and 92.33% and 86.98% for Phantom #2. Moreover, in all the cases the estimation bias in the inclusion and background regions using FASC was lower than 9.0%. These results suggest that the variance of attenuation coefficient slope estimation can be significantly reduced without sacrificing spatial resolution by the use of full angular spatial compounding.

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Attenuation Coefficient Measurement in the Thyroid

Cited by 14 publications

References 17 publications

Characterization of Thyroid Cancer in Mouse Models Using High-Frequency Quantitative Ultrasound Techniques

Characterization of Thyroid Cancer in Mouse Models Using High-Frequency Quantitative Ultrasound Techniques

Regularized Spectral Log Difference Technique for Ultrasonic Attenuation Imaging

Improving the quality of attenuation imaging using full angular spatial compounding

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