Comput Methods Programs Biomed

Ultrasound characterization by stable statistical patterns.

Year 1998
Wun YT. Chung R.
Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. ytwun@cuhk.edu.hk
It is shown that automated characterization of ultrasound images can be achieved effectively if the images are confined to single internal organs. The ultrasound image of a particular organ gives statistical textures of its structures, which are consistent with stable patterns. Analysis of these patterns leads to the construction, from a few statistical parameters, of a fast and effective algorithm to characterize these ultrasound images. A small training set is adequate. A similar approach may be used to detect tumour sites from liver ultrasonograms. The algorithms are implemented on an IBM-compatible personal computer for future incorporation into existing ultrasound machines.

STEREO: a program on a PC-Windows 95 platform for recording and evaluating quantitative stereologic investigations of multistage hepatocarcinogenesis in rodents.

Year 1998
Xu YH. Dragan YP. Campbell HA. Pitot HC.
Department of Oncology, McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, Medical School, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706-1599, USA.
The most common organ site of neoplasms induced by carcinogenic chemicals in the rodent bioassay is the liver. The development of cancer in rodent liver is a multistage process involving sequentially the stages of initiation, promotion, and progression. During the stages of promotion and progression, numerous lesions termed altered hepatic foci (AHF) develop. STEREO was developed for the purpose of efficient and accurate quantitation of AHF and related lesions in experimental and test rodents. The system utilized is equipped with a microcomputer (IBM-compatible PC running Windows 95) and a Summagraphics MICROGRID or SummaSketch tablet digitizer. The program records information from digitization of single or serial sections obtained randomly from rat liver tissue. With this information and the methods of quantitative stereology, both the number and volume percentage fraction of AHF in liver are calculated in three dimensions. The recorded data files can be printed graphically or in the format of tabular numerical data. The results of stereologic calculations are stored on floppy disks and can be sorted into different categories and analyzed or displayed with the use of statistics and graphic functions built into the overall program. Results may also be exported into Microsoft Excel for use at a later time. Any IBM-compatible PC capable of utilizing Windows 95 and MS Office can be used with STEREO, which offers inexpensive, easily operated software to obtain three-dimensional information from sections of two dimensions for the identification and relative potency of initiators, promoters, and progressors, and for the establishment of information potentially useful in developing estimations of risk for human cancer.