Clinical sound speed measurement in liver and spleen in vivo.

The paper describes an implementation of clinical sound speed measurement using either a commercial water path scanner or a specially developed dual transducer real time scanner, each interfaced to a general purpose minicomputer for off-line analysis. It describes the examination technique to obtain suitable in vivo clinical data from the liver and the spleen. It develops signal processing methods to achieve clinical confidence in individual measurements. Forty-five liver patients and 46 spleen patients were examined. Sound speed was found to correlate closely with fibrosis content in both the liver and the spleen with an increase in fibrosis resulting in a decrease in sound speed. Sound speed in various pathological conditions are discussed. Clinical results of sequential examinations on patients under treatment are presented and successful monitoring of the disease status is demonstrated. The potential clinical role of sound speed measurement is suggested.