Evaluation of echogenicity, vascularity index and tissue thickness of localized scleroderma ultrasound images Using MATLAB

Ultrasound has shown a great potential for serving as an outcome measure for localized scleroderma. High spatial resolution of ultrasound will aid to evaluate Echogenicity, Vascularity index and tissue thickness of localized scleroderma. Echogenicity is higher when the ultrasound waves reflected are lesser in value from any particular body organ. Vascularity index can be defined as the differences in the color pixels of blood vessels in localized scleroderma image and control image. MATLAB´s image processing toolbox is used to evaluate Echogenicity, Vascularity index and tissue thickness of localized scleroderma by converting the Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) to binary image. Then the binary images are processed and analysed using image processing software, which is composed of masking, convolution and filtering of images, specifically written for localized scleroderma ultrasound images. Results obtained from image processing software are in pixel regions which are converted into centimeters and compared to Ultrasound Disease Activity Measure (U-DA). Results shows that the thickness of dermis on the affected site is decreased compared to the normal site. The affected site thickness obtained is 0.98 cm compared to normal site thickness of 1.21cm. The thickness is decreased almost by 19%, thus the tissue thickness score obtained from U-DA is 1. The affected site has lower intensity compared to normal site and thus the echogenicity score obtained is +1. The total region of blood vessels on affected site is 808.62 pixels, which is more than normal site 566.25 pixels. Based on this result, the vascularity score obtained from U-DA is 1. Results obtained from image processing software using Matlab matches the scoring obtained from Ultrasound disease activity measure. Matlab image processing toolbox shows great aspects for the evaluation of echogenicity, vascularity index and tissue thickness of localized scleroderma and will help physicians to determine the severity of- disease at different stages.