A review of my history of research on ultrasound tissue characterization of chronic liver disease for developing ultrasound clinical technology.

Abstract

Ultrasound echo signals from organs contain various physical information and numerous studies have been conducted to extract new diagnostic insights from these signals. This article reviews the research and development I have undertaken in diagnosing liver tissue characteristics, reflecting on its historical progression. Initially, texture analysis aimed to identify features of liver fibrosis, but it was found to be more effective for quantifying fatty liver. Consequently, the analysis algorithm and product specifications were refined to address this need. For fatty liver, the importance of early detection of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) has grown, leading to investigations into quantifying the liver's attenuation coefficient. After several prototype trials, a real-time quantitative measurement function was achieved.