The Ultrasound device is an acceptable tool for diagnosis of variety of medical problems.
Abstract
The Ultrasound device is an acceptable tool for diagnosis of variety of medical problems. This is mostly true when referring to fertility treatments and examination of the uterus ability to carry a fetus and go through artificial insemination. In order to test this ability we create ultrasound images using the Doppler Power method. This method allows us to test the blood flow in the uterus, and an examination of the accepted ultrasound images is a critical step in determining whether an artificial insemination process is possible in a certain uterus.
Fig.1: Typical Ultrasound Image using Power Doppler Method
In this project we introduce a tool which enables a simpler image processing of the accepted ultrasound image, while characterizing it and deriving essential parameters from it. The main idea is to create a simple and friendly interface, taking under consideration that the operator is a physician and most likely to be an average computer user.
Our software is programmed in Matlab, and our graphical user interface is built with the GUIDE program, which is connected to Matlab directly.
The software itself is divided into two main parts. The first part is an application that enables the user to perform basic image processing operations, such as: Scaling, Rotation, zoom, Region of Interest marking, measurements and color separation according to different parameters. In addition, one can derive essential data from the image or from different parts of it, such as: mean color intensity, mean gray level intensity, Region of interest area and sizes, and statistical data regarding the color distribution.
Fig.2: The Main Screen
The second part (Integration Study) is more of a research part, and provides an additional perspective in the medical research. In this part we characterize color and gray level properties in the uterus ultrasound image. This is applied using a graph of the mean color or gray level in the endometrium and in the tissue surrounding it. This provides information concerning the uterus thickness extent and its color level – more parameters that will help us determine whether the uterus can carry a fetus.
Fig.3: The Integration Study Histogram for Color Image
This project was performed in constant connection with Dr. Zvi Leibovitz from “”Bnai- Zion”” medical center, under the supervision of the Vision and Image Sciences Laboratory chief engineer, Mr. Johanan Erez.
We would like to thank the Ollendorff Minerva Center for supporting this project.