ASSESSMENT OF NORMAL TESTIS GROWTH BY QUANTITATIVE TEXTURE ANALYSIS OF 2-D ECHO IMAGES

Size phases summarize the evolution of the healthy male gonad. Qualita tive examination of two-dimensional echograms detects tonal difference s at different ages of the testes. However, routine qualitative evalua tion of the echograms is too subjective and dependent upon the scanner controls; on the other hand, simple morphology reports are not suffic ient to establish the correct histolologic and physiologic evolution. So far computer-assisted quantitative analysis of ultrasonic images ha s been successful in the characterization of tissues based on their ec hographic properties; thus this approach could be suitable for art acc urate identification of the age of healthy testis. Sixty-two normal su bjects, ranked in six groups according to age, underwent echographic e xamination in standard conditions. Echograms were digitized and analys ed by means of well-established algorithms for first and second order statistics. Significant differences in tonal features were found able to discriminate among different ages, in agreement with the qualitativ e analysis and the histologic reports. Furthermore, same second order analysis features exhibit statistically significant alterations of the micro-structural organisation of the echo patients consequent to chan ges of the configuration of the ultrasonic targets, that is, of the go nad's histology. In conclusion quantitative analysis of echograms can provide a tool for a better assessment of normal testis evolution than the qualitative approach.