US TISSUE CHARACTERIZATION WORKSTATION - APPLICATIONS AND DESIGN

This article discusses the purpose, design, and uses of an ultrasonogr aphic tissue characterization workstation. The distinguishing characte ristic of a tissue characterization workstation is its ability to anal yze and classify image textures. Texture is defined as regularly or ra ndomly repeating patterns. Small texture differences in an image are d ifficult to observe in the presence of noise. Therefore, it is necessa ry to analyze the image quantitatively. Quantitative measurements incl ude run-length statistics, fractal dimension, and correlation statisti cs. The workstation is designed so that a radiologist can analyze the patient's images through an easy-to-use graphical user interface. The workstation software is based on standards, so that it can be run on a variety of different hardware platforms. The workstation can be used in a research environment to distinguish between images of malignant a nd benign breast lesions, which are difficult to diagnose visually. Fu rther work is being done to make the workstation software into a usefu l clinical tool.