With the exception of Doppler-enhanced ultrasound imaging of blood flow, features in ultrasound medical images consist of varying shades of black, white, and gray that reflect different densities. At finer levels of detail, the ability to distinguish between small arteries and other structures is difficult.

Red and blue show imaging possible with H-scan format.University of Rochester, NY, researchers have devised a way to incorporate color identifications in these images, making it easier to differentiate fine details that currently appear as indistinguishable gray-shaded objects. The advance may help clinicians interpret ultrasound images of soft tissue, including muscle, glands, and organs such as the liver (see video).

The development represents a new application of mathematical functions established in 1890 by Charles Hermite of France. One of the Rochester researchers, who discovered that Hermite’s functions closely approximated ultrasound pulses, says, “instead of ultrasound images showing all of these tissue structures as black and white objects, we can now classify them mathematically (by their size) and assign unique colors to unique types of scatterers.”

A provisional patent has been secured on the technology, called H-scan.