Acoustic Structure Quantification (ASQ): A new tool in the sonographic diagnosis of liver lesions in hepatic alveolar echinococcosis

Purpose: Acoustic Structure Quantification (ASQ) is sonographic imaging method based on B-scan. Structural changes of the hepatic parenchyma can be visualized on the basis of the statistical distribution of echo amplitudes in the tissue. The primary object of this study was the comparative analysis of the ASQ statistical parameters of mode (M), average (A), standard deviation (SD) and the focal disturbance (FD) ratio. These parameters were measured in patients with hepatic alveolar echinococcosis (HAE) in the liver lesions as well as in the adjacent normal hepatic parenchyma. Material and methods: A total of 24…