Artificial Intelligence in Quantitative Ultrasound Imaging: A Survey

Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) imaging is a safe, reliable, inexpensive, and real-time technique to extract physically descriptive parameters for assessing pathologies. Compared with other major imaging modalities such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, QUS suffers from several major drawbacks: poor image quality and inter- and intra-observer variability. Therefore, there is a great need to develop automated methods to improve the image quality of QUS. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in artificial intelligence (AI) applications in medical imaging, and a large number of research studies in AI in QUS have been conducted. The purpose of this review is to describe and categorize recent research into AI applications in QUS. We first introduce the AI workflow and then discuss the various AI applications in QUS. Finally, challenges and future potential AI applications in QUS are discussed.