Computer-aided quantitative analysis of ultrasonic texture characteristics during repair process of rabbit skeletal muscle acute injury caused by microwave ablation of different powers / 第二军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective To quantitatively analyze the ultrasonic texture changes in the repair process of rabbit skeletal muscle acute injury caused by microwave ablation of different powers by computer-aided diagnosis technology. Methods Four of 44 healthy New Zealand white rabbit served as a normal control group (without microwave ablation), and the other 40 rabbits were randomly divided into 30 W and 50 W groups (n=20). Under the guidance of high-resolution ultrasound, the right femoral muscle was ablated with 30 W or 50 W powers for 3 min. Two-dimensional ultrasound images of long-axis section of femoral artery trunk and femoral muscle of right lower limb were acquired at 1 h, 1 day, 2 days, 7 days and 28 days after microwave ablation, while images of normal control group were acquired at the same time points. Eight muscle fiber texture features (texture grayscale mean, texture grayscale standard deviation, texture number of blobs, texture irregularity of blobs, texture average size of blobs, texture homogeneity of distribution, texture directionality of distribution, and texture periodicity of distribution) included in each image region of interest were extracted by Matlab 7.0 software for quantitative analysis. Results The eight texture features of 30 W group and 50 W group were significantly higher than those of normal control group at 1 h, 1 day, 2 days after microwave ablation (all P<0.05). Seven days after microwave ablation, the rabbit skeletal muscle texture grayscale mean, texture number of blobs, texture average size of blobs, texture homogeneity of distribution and texture periodicity of distribution in the 30 W group and 50 W group were all significantly higher than those in the normal control group, and texture grayscale standard deviation in the 50 W group was also significantly higher than that in the normal control group (all P<0.05). On the 28th day after microwave ablation, the rabbit skeletal muscle texture periodicity of distribution in the 30 W group and 50 W group was significantly higher than that in the normal control group, and the rabbit skeletal muscle texture grayscale mean, texture grayscale standard deviation, texture number of blobs, and texture average size of blobs in the 50 W group were also significantly higher than those in the normal control group (all P<0.05). After microwave ablation, the texture grayscale mean of the 50 W group was higher than that of the 30 W group at 1 h, 2 days and 7 days, the texture grayscale standard deviation of the 50 W group was higher than that of the 30 W group at 1 h, 1 day, 2 days, 7 days and 28 days, the texture number of blobs of the 50 W group was higher than that of the 30 W group at 1 h and 1 day, the texture irregularity of blobs of the 50 W group was higher than that of the 30 W group at 2 days, the texture average size of blobs in the 50 W group was higher than that in the 30 W group at 1 day, 2 days, 7 days and 28 days, the texture homogeneity of distribution in the 50 W group was higher than that in the 30 W group at 1 day, and the texture periodicity of distribution in the 50 W group was higher than that in the 30 W group at 1 h and 2 days, the differences were statistically significant (all P<0.05). Conclusion Ultrasonic texture features of acute muscle injury repair in rabbits at different stages induced by microwave ablation extracted by computer technology could quantitatively describe the geometric features of muscle fibers after skeletal muscle injury in rabbits, which will be expected to provide evidence for clinical ultrasonic quantitative diagnosis of skeletal muscle injury repair.