Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography parameters in neural network diagnosis of liver tumors

Figure 1 Study protocol. The patients were registered and contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) was performed, with subsequent movie registration and offline time-intensity curve (TIC) analysis. Relevant parameters were fed to the artificial neural networks (ANN) which divided the dataset into training, validation and fitting lots. A back propagation and 10-fold cross-validation algorithm assured a high accuracy for the classifications obtained by the ANN system. Imax: Maximum intensities; TTP: Time to reaching peak intensities; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma.