Processing of abdominal ultrasound images using seed based region growing method

There are many diseases relating to abdomen. Patients suffering by abdominal diseases will be experiencing chronic or acute abdominal pain or suspects of an abdominal mass. Abdomen has two major parts: liver and gallbladder. Gallbladder and liver diseases are very common not only in Malaysia but also all over the globe. Hundreds of patients die from such diseases every year. Doctors face difficulty in diagnosing the types of diseases and sometimes unnecessary measures like surgery has to be performed. An abdominal ultrasound image is a useful way of examining internal organs, including the liver, gallbladder, spleen and kidneys. Ultrasound is safe, radiation free, faster and cheaper. Ultrasound images themselves will not give a clear view of an affected region. In general raw ultrasound images contains lot of imbedded noises. So digital processing can improve the quality of raw ultrasound images. In this work a software tool called ultrasound processing tool (UPT) has been developed by employing the histogram equalization and region growing approach to give a clearer view of the affected regions in the abdomen. The system was tested on more than 20 cases. Here, the results of two cases are presented, one on gallbladder mass and another on liver cancer. The radiologists have reported that original ultrasound images were not at all clear enough to detect the shape and area of the affected regions and the ultrasound processing tool has provided them clear and better view of the internal details of the diseases.