title: Automated detection of a blood pool in ultrasound images of abdominal trauma.
abstract: Ultrasound imaging is commonly used for emergency diagnosis of blunt trauma. Portable scanners are able to provide adequate imaging in remote and dangerous areas; however, medical expertise may not be available in the immediate local area to interpret the acquired images. The presence of pooled blood in the abdomen is a critical clinical symptom after trauma. This article describes an automated algorithm to detect blood pools in ultrasound images of abdominal trauma. The algorithm creates and uses a feature space consisting of local intensities, averaged local gradient magnitudes and second-order central rotation invariant moments. Successful tests were performed with a set of clinical images of a liver-kidney interface covering the Morrison's pouch, which is the most likely space for blood from an abdominal injury to gather. When implemented in a portable scanner, the reported algorithm will provide rapid, on-the-spot detection of trauma-induced blood pooling and advance notice of a significant blunt traumatic injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Lerner Research Institute, The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zagrodsky
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Phelan
authors.forename: Raj
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shekhar
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D000007:Abdominal Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D000465:Algorithms; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D007668:Kidney / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014949:Wounds, Nonpenetrating / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*