Device and method for the diagnosis of a pneumonia by analysis of ultrasound images

A method for calculating a diagnostic parameter indicating the stage of a pneumonia, implementable by means of a computer program loaded on computing means associated to an ultrasound device, comprising the steps of:

• (100) acquiring, by means of an ultrasound device provided with a probe comprising an array of CMUT or piezoelectric transducers each configured to emit an ultrasonic impulse directed to the tissues object of classification and to receive the raw ultrasonic signal reflected by the tissues of the patient in response to said ultrasonic impulse, a plurality of ultrasound images of the lung of a patient in a first acquisition position with probe positioned parallel to ribs, in which it is visible at least the pleural line and a portion of lung below it;
• (200) individuating, inside each image acquired at point (100), a Region of Interest (ROI) comprising the area under the pleural line;
• (300) segmenting each of said regions of interest (ROI) in order to individuate a plurality of ultrasound makers (Ci, . . . , Cn) therein;
• (400) calculating for each of said ultrasound markers (Ci, . . . , Cn) a plurality of features (Cii, . . . , Cim, Cni, . . . , Cnm), wherein each feature is a descriptive parameter expressible by means of a numeric value;
• (450) calculating at least another parameter relating to the images acquired at point (100) as a whole;
• (500) calculating a diagnostic parameter representing the severity of the pneumonia in a portion of lung tissue as a function of the values assumed by said features calculated at point (400), characterized in that said ultrasound markers comprise pleural line, A-Lines, B-lines and consolidations, in that said at least further parameter comprises the percentage of pleural line interested by “white lung”, and in that said diagnostic parameter is calculated with a two steps procedure:
• a first step, in which to each ultrasound image acquired at point (100) a first value of Pneumonia Score is assigned as a function of the number of A-lines, the number and configuration of B-lines and the pleural line continuity;
• a second step, in which the average of the first values calculated for each image acquired at point (100) is corrected as a function of said at least further parameter calculated at point (450) and relating to all the images acquired in the first acquisition position.