title: Measurement of the skin-liver capsule distance on ultrasound RF data for 1D transient elastography.
abstract: Vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTETM) technique is routinely used in clinical practice to assess non-invasively the liver stiffness which is correlated to hepatic fibrosis. Adequate use of the VCTETM probe requires the knowledge of the distance between the skin and the liver parenchyma. This paper compares two methods to estimate this distance using spatial variations of the spectral content of ultrasound radiofrequency (RF) lines, obtained from a probe consisting of a single element ultrasound transducer placed in front of the liver right lobe. Results on a database of 188 patients, including normal-weight and obese persons, show that the spectral variance can accurately discriminate the subcutaneous fat from the liver tissue. The proposed algorithm works in real-time and is suitable for VCTETM scanning protocol setup.
authors.affiliation: Institut Telecom, Telecom ParisTech, CNRS LTCI, Paris, France
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Audière
authors.forename: Maurice
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Charbit
authors.forename: Elsa D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Angelini
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oudry
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sandrin
mesh_terms: D055119:Elastic Modulus / Q000502:physiology; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology*; D011846:Radio Waves; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012867:Skin / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012879:Skin Physiological Phenomena