AN INNOVATING TEXTURAL ANALYSIS WITH GREY LEVEL CO-OCCURRENCE MATRICES OVER TENDINOUS ULTRASONOGRAPHIC IMAGE: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPORTSMEN AND NON SPORTSMEN

Abstract

Objectives: a comparative textural analysis of Achilles tendon cross section ultrasonography by means of GLCM in sportsmen (footballers) and non sportsmen. Materials & methods: cross analytic study with sport group (SG) (n= 23, age (mean ± S.T) 21.1±1.97) and non-sport group (NSG) (n = 24, page 21.7±1.73) both of them were volunteers of Murcian university context along the year 2008. Cross-sectional ultrasonographic of Achigraph (linear transducer 5-10 MHz). Mean grey level, standard deviation, and variation coefficient of grey level and uniformity (textural variable also called Angular Second Momentum or energy) for 4 orientations (0º, 90º, 180º and 270º) and 3 distances between pairs of pixels (1, 5 and 10 px) with Image J v1.40 software. T-Student parametric test and Mann-Whitney nonparametric test were used to compare two groups (ci 95 %). Results: in general, the mean grey level was greater in SG. Uniformity of ultrasound image was greater in NSG than in SG. A possible explanation is that due to the stimulus that exercise exerts on collagen synthesis, the conjunctive tissue layers that surround tendon fascicles offer more echogenic contrast. Conclusions: the use of GLCM in the textural analysis of tendon ultrasonography is innovating and it appears like a useful tool as much to evaluate the histological evolution of tendon tissue, like coming up and detecting future pathologies precociously.