Although the UTC imaging algorithms for Ultrasound Tissue Characterisation appeared to be robust, the best way to reach standardised analysis is to collect “original”, raw digital ultrasound information. Processing of this “original” information, as done by normal ultrasound scanners in order to come to a nice ultrasonographic image (and every manufacturer of ultrasound scanners has his own secret procedures to create that nice display!), significantly clutters ultrasound signals that are vital for high-resolution and discriminative tissue characterisation.
Another frequent problem with normal ultrasound scanners is that ultrasonographic images have to be “grabbed” from the display by means of a so-called frame-grabber. Besides the extra step of analog to digital (A/D) conversion, this procedure also suffers the disadvantage that frame-grabbers do not fit in laptop computer.
So, for multiple reasons UTC Imaging decided to use the Terason ultrasound scanner. This modified scanner is connected to the MacBook Pro and the ultrasound information is brought real-time, unprocessed into this high-capacity laptop computer. In this way, ultrasound signals early in the processing chain, thus without deformation caused by complex signal processing for displaying the nice picture, can be used directly for high-resolution and highly-discriminative tissue characterisation.