Automated Measurement of Organ Volume Using Ultrasonic Bubble Filling Method

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The purpose of this study is to measure the volume of the target organ accurately and automatically from ultrasound images. In order to measure the volume accurately, it is necessary to determine the boundary of the target organ beforehand. It is, however, difficult to detect the organ boundary satisfactorily, because the ultrasound image quality is seriously deteriorative. Therefore, we developed the method for measuring the volume of the target organ accurately and automatically using the newly proposed Bubble Filling Method. As a result of applying this method to agar gel phantom data, it was possible to measure the volume accurately and automatically.In this research period, we measured 50 fetal bladder volumes to verify the method's effectiveness. Data acquision was as follows : the angle (parallel) and the speed of the probe applied to the mothers' abdomen were fixed during the scanning. Then we applied this method to the data and measured the volume. As a result, it was possible to measure the volume accuraterly and automatically.Finally, we proposed the method for measuring the volume of urinary bladders accurately and easily from ultrasound images. A set of two-dimensional cross-section images and a vertical-section image are acquired by parallel scanning and then the urine bladder volume is measured accurately without special hardware. As a result of applying this method to experimental data and clinical data, it was possible to measure the volume of the urinary bladder.In addition, we constructed computer-set that is able to handle and save enormous clinical data.