Automated discrimination of tissue boundaries using ultrasound images of "ubiquitous echo"

Balance between human body compositions, e.g. bones, muscles, and fat, is one of the major and basic indicators related to personal health. Body composition analysis using ultrasound imaging has developed rapidly. However, interpretation of ultrasound images is conducted manually, and accuracy and confidence in interpretation requires experience. This paper proposes an automated approach to determine boundaries between tissues, with which thickness of subcutaneous fat and muscles can be obtained. A portable B-mode ultrasound echographic device, which is called Ubiquitous Echo, was used in this study. The validity of the proposed method was evaluated in eleven subjects (three women, eight men; ages 22-77 yr) at three anatomical sites. Experimental results show that the proposed method can achieve considerably high discrimination performance.