# QUANTITATIVE ULTRASONIC DIFFERENTIATION OF LIVER DISEASE

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON · 1989 · $279,567

## Abstract

This is a proposal for continuation of R01-CA38515.  During the first
three years of this work we have demonstrated using in vitro work that
statistically significant differences exist among the frequency slopes of
acoustic attenuation of normal liver, mild liver disease and
moderate/sever liver disease.  Furthermore, when the frequency dependent
attenuation behavior is modeled as a power-law, increasing fat and
fibrosis content in the liver exhibited concomitant increase in the
exponent of the power law; however, fat involvement resulted in increase
in the proportionality constant as well.

Recent literature in this field has reported difficulties in implementing
attenuation estimation techniques in vivo.  These difficulties stem from
the need for appropriate corrections for beam diffraction and from
distortions due to body wall.  Inverse Diffraction Filtering (IDF)
methods have not been very successful in reducing errors in the
estimation due to their failure to account for body wall effects and the
scattering properties of the tissues.  We have demonstrated that an Axial
Beam Translation method (ABT) is capable of effectively eliminating
estimation errors due to diffraction.

We propose to continue the investigation to demonstrate the feasibility
of identification and followup of diffuse liver disease in vivo in terms
of the acoustic attenuation parameters.  Our specific aims are:  1)
Establish through computer simulations the optimal conditions under which
Axial Beam Translation (ABT) produces the best estimates of the
attenuation parameters in scattering media; compare these with estimates
obtained via standard methods corrected with Inverse Diffraction
Filtering (IDF).  2) Verify these optimal conditions in water tank
experiments on known tissue mimicking phantoms and tissues.  3) Design
and construct a sector scanning head system capable of both real time ABT
and IDF measurement and extended focus imaging; incorporate this device
into an experimental imaging ad measurement system.  4) Test the modified
experimental system on normal volunteers and on patients undergoing
evaluation for liver disease.  Correlate results of attenuation
estimations obtained via IDF and ABT methods with the pathological fat
and/or fibrosis content of the liver.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3176577
- **Project number:** 2R01CA038515-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON
- **SAM.gov UEI:** ZUFBNVZ587D4
- **Principal Investigator:** JONATHAN OPHIR
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1989
- **Award amount:** $279,567
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 1985-08-01 → 1993-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3176577

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3176577, QUANTITATIVE ULTRASONIC DIFFERENTIATION OF LIVER DISEASE (2R01CA038515-04). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3176577. Licensed CC0.

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