Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, Vol 18, Issue 4 261-264, Copyright © 1999 by American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
Differentiation of small hyperechoic renal cell carcinoma from angiomyolipoma: computer-aided tissue echo quantification
J. S. Sim, C. S. Seo, S. H. Kim, J. H. Kim, W. S. Kim, J. K. Han and B. I. Choi
Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Hospital, South Korea.
To assess the value of computer-aided tissue echo quantification in
differentiating small hyperechoic renal cell carcinomas from
angiomyolipomas, we studied ultrasonographic images of 15 renal cell
carcinomas and 20 angiomyolipomas. After digitizing the images, we measured
the absolute gray scale values of the renal cortex, central echo complex,
and mass. The relative gray scale value (%) of the mass was calculated by
setting the gray scale value of the cortex as 0% and the central echo
complex as 100%. The relative gray scale value of renal cell carcinomas was
in the range of 12 to 73% (mean, 28%), whereas that of angiomyolipomas was
30 to 204% (mean, 130%). The differentiation between small hyperechoic
renal cell carcinomas and angiomyolipomas can be facilitated by
computer-aided tissue echo quantification.
