How to detect and analyze atherosclerotic plaques in B-MODE ultrasound images: A pilot study of reproducibility of computer analysis

Abstract

This pilot study is focused on recognition and digital analysis of atherosclerotic plaques in ultrasound B-images. The plaques are displayed as differently echogenic regions depending on plaque composition. The first goal is to find significant features to plaque analysis in B-images. We developed software to finding hyperechogenicity of substantia nigra to Parkinson’s Disease evaluation in B-images. We try to discover how to use this software also for atherosclerotic plaques analysis. The software has a function of intelligent brightness detection. We use a set of 23 images, each of them was analyzed five times. The primary goal is to verify the reproducibility of this software to atherosclerotic plaques analysis in medical practice.