Quantitative Ultrasound and B-mode Image Texture Features Correlate with Collagen and Myelin Content in Human Ulnar Nerve Fascicles

Abstract

We investigate the usefulness of quantitative ultrasound (QUS) and B-mode texture features for characterization of ulnar nerve fascicles. Ultrasound data were acquired from cadaveric specimens using a nominal 30 MHz probe. Next, the nerves were extracted to prepare histology sections. 85 fascicles were matched between the B-mode images and the histology sections. For each fascicle image, we selected an intra-fascicular region of interest. We used histology sections to determine features related to the concentration of collagen and myelin, and ultrasound data to calculate backscatter coefficient (-24.89 dB $\pm$ 8.31), attenuation coefficient (0.92 db/cm-MHz $\pm$ 0.04), Nakagami parameter (1.01 $\pm$ 0.18) and entropy (6.92 $\pm$ 0.83), as well as B-mode texture features obtained via the gray level co-occurrence matrix algorithm. Significant Spearman's rank correlations between the combined collagen and myelin concentrations were obtained for the backscatter coefficient (R=-0.68), entropy (R=-0.51), and for several texture features. Our study demonstrates that QUS may potentially provide information on structural components of nerve fascicles.