Transverse Muscle Ultrasound Analysis (TRAMA): Robust and Accurate Segmentation of Muscle Cross-Sectional Area.

Ultrasonography allows non-invasive and real time-measurement of the visible cross-sectional area (CSA) of muscles, which is a clinically relevant descriptor of muscle size. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a fully automatic method called transverse muscle ultrasound analysis (TRAMA) for segmentation of the muscle in B-mode transverse ultrasound images and measurement of muscle CSA. TRAMA was tested on a database of 200 ultrasound images of the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, tibialis anterior and medial gastrocnemius muscles.

On the Relationship between Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound Parameters and the Underlying Vascular Architecture Extracted from Acoustic Angiography.

Dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound (DCE-US) has been proposed as a powerful tool for cancer diagnosis by estimation of perfusion and dispersion parameters reflecting angiogenic vascular changes. This work was aimed at identifying which vascular features are reflected by the estimated perfusion and dispersion parameters through comparison with acoustic angiography (AA). AA is a high-resolution technique that allows quantification of vascular morphology.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound tractography for 3D vascular imaging of the prostate.

Diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) enables visualization of fiber trajectories in soft tissue using magnetic resonance imaging. DTT exploits the anisotropic nature of water diffusion in fibrous structures to identify diffusion pathways by generating streamlines based on the principal diffusion vector. Anomalies in these pathways can be linked to neural deficits.

Quantitative analysis of thyroid tumors vascularity: A comparison between 3-D contrast-enhanced ultrasound and 3-D Power Doppler on benign and malignant thyroid nodules.

Purpose: To perform a comparative quantitative analysis of Power Doppler ultrasound (PDUS) and Contrast-Enhancement ultrasound (CEUS) for the quantification of thyroid nodules vascularity patterns, with the goal of identifying biomarkers correlated with the malignancy of the nodule with both imaging techniques.

Methods: We propose a novel method to reconstruct the vascular architecture from 3-D PDUS and CEUS images of thyroid nodules, and to automatically extract seven quantitative features related to the morphology and distribution of vascular network. Features include three tortuosity metrics, the number of vascular trees and branches, the vascular volume density, and the main spatial vascularity pattern.

Diagnostic evaluation in steroid-induced myopathy: case report suggesting clinical utility of quantitative muscle ultrasonography.

Purpose: We present a patient with adrenal Cushing's syndrome causing steroid myopathy. The purpose of the case report is to illustrate the clinical usefulness of quantitative muscle ultrasonography for the assessment of glucocorticoid-induced changes in muscle mass (MM) and structure.

Methods: Assessments of physical performance, muscle strength, MM (i.

Quantitative analysis of patellar tendon size and structure in asymptomatic professional players: sonographic study.

Background: Ultrasonographic abnormalities of the patellar tendon frequently occur in asymptomatic athletes and it is not always clear whether they precede (and may predict) the development of tendinopathy.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate by ultrasonography the prevalence of patellar tendon abnormalities in players of "pallapugno" and to establish whether structural tendon abnormalities predict tendinopathy development.

Methods: Ultrasound B-mode images of the patellar tendon of both sides were acquired in fourteen throwers.

Fully Automated Muscle Ultrasound Analysis (MUSA): Robust and Accurate Muscle Thickness Measurement.

Musculoskeletal ultrasound imaging allows non-invasive measurement of skeletal muscle thickness. Current techniques generally suffer from manual operator dependency, while all the computer-aided approaches are limited to be semi-automatic or specifically optimized for a single muscle. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a fully automatic method, named MUSA (Muscle UltraSound Analysis), for measurement of muscle thickness on longitudinal ultrasound images acquired from different skeletal muscles.

Ultrasound-Based Detection of Low Muscle Mass for Diagnosis of Sarcopenia in Older Adults.

Objective: To establish muscle-specific cut-off values for ultrasound-based detection of low muscle mass, and to assess its prevalence in a population of frail older subjects when applying the cut-points of different muscles and those of different sarcopenic indices.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Geriatric outpatient clinic and clinical research laboratory.

Advances in quantitative muscle ultrasonography using texture analysis of ultrasound images.

Musculoskeletal ultrasound imaging can be used to investigate the skeletal muscle structure in terms of architecture (thickness, cross-sectional area, fascicle length and fascicle pennation angle) and texture. Gray-scale analysis is commonly used to characterize transverse scans of the muscle. Gray mean value is used to distinguish between normal and pathologic muscles, but it depends on the image acquisition system and its settings.

Muscle echo intensity: reliability and conditioning factors.

Objective: To assess the issue of muscle echo intensity reliability and to investigate the relationship between muscle echo intensity and size, shape and location of the region of interest (ROI) used for echo intensity quantification.

Methods: Ultrasonographic scans of the following five muscles were acquired in twenty healthy subjects: biceps brachii, rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, tibialis anterior and medial gastrocnemius. Muscle echo intensity was quantified in each scan.