Both mammography and standard ultrasound (US) rely upon subjective criteria within the breast imaging reporting and data system (BI-RADS) to provide more uniform interpretation outcomes, as well as differentiation and risk stratification of associated abnormalities. In addition, the technical performance and professional interpretation of both tests suffer from machine and operator dependence. Breast MR has become the new gold standard for screening of high-risk women but has cost and access limitations in extending screening to the entire population. We have been developing a new technique for breast imaging that is based on ultrasound tomography which quantifies tissue characteristics while also producing 3-D images of breast anatomy. Results are presented from clinical studies that utilize this method.
Informed consent was obtained from all patients, prospectively recruited in an IRB-approved protocol following HIPAA guidelines. Images were produced by tomographic algorithms for reflection, sound speed and attenuation. All images were reviewed by a board-certified radiologist who has more than 20 years of experience in breast imaging and US-technology development. In the first phase of the study, UST images were compared to multi-modal imaging to determine the appearance of lesions and breast parenchyma. In the second phase of the study, correlative comparisons with MR breast imaging were used to establish basic operational capabilities of the UST system including the identification and characterization of parenchymal patterns. Our study demonstrated a high degree of correlation of breast tissue structures relative to fat subtracted contrast enhanced MRI. With a scan duration of ~ 1-3 minutes, no significant motion artifacts were observed.
Mammography is not sufficiently effective for women with dense breast tissue – women who are at much higher risk for developing breast cancer. Consequently, many breast cancers go undetected at their treatable stage. Improved cancer detection and characterization for women with dense breast tissue is urgently needed. Our clinical study has shown that ultrasound tomography (UST) is an emerging technique that moves beyond B-mode imaging by its through transmission capabilities. Transmission ultrasound provides additional tissue parameters such as sound speed, attenuation, and through-transmission rendered tissue stiffness information. For women with dense breasts, these parameters can be used to assist in detecting malignant masses within glandular or fatty tissue and differentiating malignant and benign masses. This paper focuses on the use of waveform ultrasound sound speed imaging and tissue stiffness information generated using through-transmission data to characterize different breast tissues and breast masses. In-vivo examples will be given to assess its effectiveness.
KEYWORDS: Tomography, 3D image processing, Breast, Signal attenuation, Breast imaging, Reconstruction algorithms, Breast cancer, Mammography, Visualization, Ultrasonography, 3D modeling, Wave propagation, Transducers, Cancer
Frequency-domain ultrasound waveform tomography is a promising method for the visualization and characterization of breast disease. It has previously been shown to accurately reconstruct the sound speed distributions of breasts of varying densities. The reconstructed images show detailed morphological and quantitative information that can help differentiate different types of breast disease including benign and malignant lesions. The attenuation properties of an ex vivo phantom have also been assessed. However, the reconstruction algorithms assumed a 2D geometry while the actual data acquisition process was not. Although clinically useful sound speed images can be reconstructed assuming this mismatched geometry, artifacts from the reconstruction process exist within the reconstructed images. This is especially true for registration across different modalities and when the 2D assumption is violated. For example, this happens when a patient’s breast is rapidly sloping. It is also true for attenuation imaging where energy lost or gained out of the plane gets transformed into artifacts within the image space. In this paper, we will briefly review ultrasound waveform tomography techniques, give motivation for pursuing the 3D method, discuss the 3D reconstruction algorithm, present the results of 3D forward modeling, show the mismatch that is induced by the violation of 3D modeling via numerical simulations, and present a 3D inversion of a numerical phantom.
KEYWORDS: Signal attenuation, Breast imaging, Breast, Ultrasonography, Image resolution, Tomography, Detection and tracking algorithms, Transducers, In vivo imaging, Ultrasound tomography, Tissues, Reconstruction algorithms, Data modeling
Ex vivo studies using our ultrasound waveform attenuation algorithm have shown promising results for detection and
characterization of lesions of different types. Our preliminary in vivo study shows that the waveform attenuation image
has much higher resolution and can better delineate breast lesions boundaries than the corresponding ray-based attenuation
image. In this study, we preprocessed our time domain waveforms acquired with a ring array and explored the directional
transducer beam pattern to better match calculated wave fields with respect to the acquired wave fields. We have applied
waveform attenuation to in vivo data and compared the resulting waveform attenuation images with the ray-based
counterparts to assess the resolution and accuracy of the waveform attenuation reconstruction.
KEYWORDS: Tomography, Signal attenuation, Ultrasonography, Breast, Mammography, Breast cancer, Breast imaging, Visualization, Reconstruction algorithms, Tumor growth modeling, Tissues, Numerical simulations, Transducers, Data modeling, Cancer
Ultrasound waveform tomography techniques have shown promising results for the visualization and characterization of breast disease. By using frequency-domain waveform tomography techniques and a gradient descent algorithm, we have previously reconstructed the sound speed distributions of breasts of varying densities with different types of breast disease including benign and malignant lesions. By allowing the sound speed to have an imaginary component, we can model the intrinsic attenuation of a medium. We can similarly recover the imaginary component of the velocity and thus the attenuation. In this paper, we will briefly review ultrasound waveform tomography techniques, discuss attenuation and its relations to the imaginary component of the sound speed, and provide both numerical and ex vivo examples of waveform tomography attenuation reconstructions.
KEYWORDS: Tomography, Breast, Magnetic resonance imaging, Prototyping, Tissues, Data acquisition, Tumors, In vivo imaging, Ultrasonography, Ultrasound tomography
Ultrasound tomography is a promising modality for breast imaging. Many current ultrasound tomography imaging algorithms are based on ray theory and assume a homogeneous background which is inaccurate for complex heterogeneous regions. They fail when the size of lesions approaches the wavelength of ultrasound used. Therefore, to accurately image small lesions, wave theory must be used in ultrasound imaging algorithms to properly handle the heterogeneous nature of breast tissue and the diffraction effects that it induces. Using frequency-domain ultrasound waveform tomography, we present sound speed reconstructions of both a tissue-mimicking breast phantom and in vivo data sets. Significant improvements in contrast and resolution are made upon the previous ray based methods. Where it might have been difficult to differentiate a high sound speed tumor from bulk breast parenchyma using ray based methods, waveform tomography improves the shape and margins of a tumor to help more accurately differentiate it from the bulk breast tissue. Waveform tomography sound speed imaging might improve the ability of finding lesions in very dense tissues, a difficult environment for mammography. By comparing the sound speed images produced by waveform tomography to MRI, we see that the complex structures in waveform tomography are consistent with those in MRI. The robustness of the method is established by reconstructing data acquired by two different ultrasound tomography prototypes.
KEYWORDS: Tomography, Signal attenuation, Ultrasonography, Breast, Data modeling, Breast imaging, Tissues, Ultrasound tomography, Medical imaging, Wave propagation
Ultrasound tomography is an emerging modality for breast imaging. However, most current ultrasonic tomography imaging algorithms, historically hindered by the limited memory and processor speed of computers, are based on ray theory and assume a homogeneous background which is inaccurate for complex heterogeneous regions. Therefore, wave theory, which accounts for diffraction effects, must be used in ultrasonic imaging algorithms to properly handle the heterogeneous nature of breast tissue in order to accurately image small lesions. However, application of waveform tomography to medical imaging has been limited by extreme computational cost and convergence. By taking advantage of the computational architecture of Graphic Processing Units (GPUs), the intensive processing burden of waveform tomography can be greatly alleviated. In this study, using breast imaging methods, we implement a frequency domain waveform tomography algorithm on GPUs with the goal of producing high-accuracy and high-resolution breast images on clinically relevant time scales. We present some simulation results and assess the resolution and accuracy of our waveform tomography algorithms based on the simulation data.
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