挫傷是一種常見的肌肉損傷，是由於在運動中受到瞬間強烈的壓力所造成。目前挫傷可以藉由醫學影像應用於臨床上，但是需要由經驗豐富的專家進行診斷。因此在本研究中，希望透過獲取超音波的射頻 (RF)訊號來計算定量參數和紋理特徵，並加以用於評估挫傷後肌肉組織的恢復情形。實驗使用600g的砝碼從30cm高處墜落撞擊造成大鼠外側腓腸肌的挫傷。以及使用30MHz中心頻率的探頭掃描獲得超音波訊號後，將訊號轉為B-mode影像並計算其積體逆散射 (IB)、Nakagami統計參數 (m)和利用灰階共生矩陣 (GLCM)提取的紋理特徵。最後，使用支援向量機 (SVM)分類器透過超音波影像的定量參數和紋理特徵對挫傷的恢復階段進行分類。 其中IB和m的變化可以清楚地區分破壞階段和其他階段 (p<0.05)。 而GLCM中的對比度 (CON)，同質性 (HOM)，能量 (EN)和熵 (ENT)能夠定量地區分肌肉挫傷癒合狀態的各個階段 (p<0.05)。肌肉挫傷後第21天，由於瘢痕消失不完全以及肌肉再生，導致IB、CON、HOM、EN和ENT這些數值會隨著肌肉恢復而增加，但其數值仍然沒有恢復到健康肌肉的值。同時會透過Masson’s Trichrome染色切片來驗證肌肉的健康狀況。該研究驗證了使用定量參數以及GLCM紋理特徵來判斷肌肉挫傷復原階段為可行的非侵入式診斷方法。基於定量參數和4種Haralick的參數，支援向量機對超音波大鼠外側腓腸肌影像分類已經成功實施。

Contusion is a common injury corresponding to rapid and strong compressive force during exercise occasions. The contusion may be diagnosed clinically via the evaluation of medical images that however require the diagnosis by experienced and professional experts. In the present study, efforts were made to extensively assess the recovery of muscle tissues, which were brought out following a certain contusion hit by a custom-made contusion model, via quantitative parameters and texture feature of the acquired ultrasound radio-frequency (RF) signals and images. The experiments were performed from lateral gastrocnemius muscle of SD rats in which the contusion was achieved by a hitting of 600g mass from a height of 30cm. The integrated backscatter (IB), statistical Nakagami parameter, and texture features extraction using gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) were calculated from the acquired ultrasound signals and B-mode images with a 30 MHz central frequency. Finally, support vector machine (SVM) classifier was used to classify the contusion recovery stages through quantitative parameters and texture features from ultrasound images. The change of m and IB values, which can clearly differentiate between destruction stages and other stages (p<0.05). Contrast (CON), Homogeneity (HOM), Energy (EN), and Entropy (ENT) in GLCM are all capable of quantitatively differentiating various muscle contusion healing stages (p<0.05). 21 days after muscle contusion, the scars dissipated incompletely and muscle regenerates. Specifically, IB, CON, HOM, EN, and ENT tend to increase with the muscle recovery although those values still did not recover to those of the control group as verified by Masson’s Trichrome slices. This study validated that high-frequency ultrasound and related parameters as well as GLCM texture features may be a feasible diagnostic means for quantitatively characterize the degree and recovery of muscle contusion. The efficacy of support vector machine for characterization of ultrasonic rat hind limb images based on quantitative parameters and GLCM with 4 Haralick features has been successfully evaluated.

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