On ultrasound measurement system estimating diameters of fallopian tube models

In this paper, a method of calculating inner and outer diameters of fallopian tubes is presented, provided that silicone rubber tubes are models for fallopian tubes. It is based on the ultrasound measurement using a single probe of which the nominal frequency is 5 MHz, and assumes that ultrasound waves emanating from the probe are reflected at the top outer surface, surfaces between water and silicone rubber, and bottom outer surface of the tube. It obtains envelope curves associated with the reflected waves, by applying Hilbert transformation to the waves. It next estimates top four maximal values on the envelope curves to acquire time points when the wave reflections occur. The inner and outer diameters of the tubes are easily estimated by substituting the above time points in simple formulas. Experimental results reveal that the proposed method can achieve substantial accuracy in estimating inner and outer diameters of the target tubes.