Li Yuzhen, He Bingbing, Lang Xun, Shi Guang, Zhang Ningtao, Guo Zhenyu, Zhang Yufeng
Department of Electronic Engineering, School of Information, Yunnan University, Kunming, China.
Yunnan Key Laboratory of Intelligent Systems and Computing, Kunming, China.
Quant Imaging Med Surg. 2025 Jul 1;15(7):6372-6385. doi: 10.21037/qims-24-1753. Epub 2025 Jun 30.
High-frequency quantitative ultrasound (HQUS) technology, with its non-invasiveness, high-resolution, objectivity, and reproducibility, holds significant potential for characterizing skin aging through the analysis of the internal structure of tissues. This study aims to explore a framework for characterizing skin aging assessment through HQUS technology to facilitate the subsequent analysis of skin aging-related studies.
In this study, an exploration of non-modeling and modeling HQUS techniques in characterizing skin aging was conducted. In particular, we tested the conventional approach using the envelope amplitude, the non-modeling approach based on the small-window entropy and the modeling approach with the Nakagami parameters ( and ) at scanning depths of 1 and 1.5 mm, respectively, and discovered that such a characterization framework is well-suitable for quantifying skin aging. These parameters were calculated based on ultrasound backscattered signals at a high frequency of 42 MHz from the facial skin (from the epidermis to the dermis) of 70 female participants aged 24-57 years and then analyzed using the linear fitting and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.
The results show that there exists a linear correlation between all parameters and participant ages at scanning depths of 1 and 1.5 mm, respectively. Among them, the correlation coefficients for parameter are r=0.84 (P<0.0001) and r=0.65 (P<0.0001), which are higher than those for the relative envelope amplitude, small-window entropy, and parameter . Moreover, the parameter also has the highest area under the curve among the ROC curves, regardless of the scanning depth.
This characterization framework, especially the modeling of the Nakagami parameter , has great feasibility for the characterization of human skin aging. The proposed framework holds significant potential for assessing the efficacy of facial rejuvenation products, photofacials, and similar treatments.
高频定量超声（HQUS）技术具有非侵入性、高分辨率、客观性和可重复性，通过分析组织内部结构来表征皮肤老化具有巨大潜力。本研究旨在探索一种通过HQUS技术表征皮肤老化评估的框架，以促进后续皮肤老化相关研究的分析。
在本研究中，对非建模和建模HQUS技术在表征皮肤老化方面进行了探索。具体而言，我们分别在1毫米和1.5毫米的扫描深度测试了使用包络幅度的传统方法、基于小窗口熵的非建模方法以及具有 Nakagami 参数（和）的建模方法，发现这样的表征框架非常适合量化皮肤老化。这些参数是根据42兆赫高频下从70名年龄在24至57岁女性参与者面部皮肤（从表皮到真皮）的超声后向散射信号计算得出的，然后使用线性拟合和受试者工作特征（ROC）曲线进行分析。
结果表明，在1毫米和1.5毫米的扫描深度下，所有参数与参与者年龄之间分别存在线性相关性。其中，参数的相关系数分别为r = 0.84（P < 0.0001）和r = 0.65（P < 0.0001），高于相对包络幅度、小窗口熵和参数的相关系数。此外，无论扫描深度如何，参数在ROC曲线中的曲线下面积也最高。
这种表征框架，特别是 Nakagami 参数的建模，在表征人类皮肤老化方面具有很大的可行性。所提出的框架在评估面部年轻化产品、光子嫩肤及类似治疗的疗效方面具有巨大潜力。
