IN-VITRO EVALUATION OF 3-DIMENSIONAL ULTRASONOGRAPHY IN VOLUME ESTIMATION OF ABDOMINAL ORGANS

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy and precision o f a three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound system in volume estimation of a bdominal organs in vitro. A mechanical sector scanner coupled to a ste pping motor recorded images of porcine stomach and kidneys. The transd ucer was tilted through 88-degrees yielding 81 frames, and volume esti mation was performed digitally after interactive manual contour indica tion and organ reconstruction in 3 dimensions. This 3D system showed g ood correlation (r = 0.998) between estimated and true volumes. Volume estimation of stomach and kidneys using 3.25 MHz probe demonstrated l imits of agreement of 0.877 to 1.146 and 1.007 to 1.125, respectively, depicting estimated volumes as a proportion of true volumes in 95% of the examinations. Intra- and interobserver variation of the tracing p rocedure revealed low values. We conclude that this 3D ultrasound syst em performs high accuracy and precision in volume estimation.