Reflections on ultrasound image analysis

Ultrasound (US) image analysis has advanced considerably in twenty years. Progress in ultrasound image analysis has always been fundamental to the advancement of image-guided interventions research due to the real-time acquisition capability of ultrasound and this has remained true over the two decades. But in quantitative ultrasound image analysis - which takes US images and turns them into more meaningful clinical information - thinking has perhaps more fundamentally changed. From roots as a poor cousin to Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance (MR) image analysis, both of which have richer anatomical definition and thus were better suited to the earlier eras of medical image analysis which were dominated by model-based methods, ultrasound image analysis has now entered an exciting new era, assisted by advances in machine learning and the growing clinical and commercial interest in employing low-cost portable ultrasound devices outside traditional hospital-based clinical settings. This short article provides a perspective on this change, and highlights some challenges ahead and potential opportunities in ultrasound image analysis which may both have high impact on healthcare delivery worldwide in the future but may also, perhaps, take the subject further away from CT and MR image analysis research with time.