Vibro-acoustic tissue mammography

Author

Fatemi, Mostafa ; Wold, Lester E. ; Alizad, Azra ; Greenleaf, James F.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Physiol. & Biophys., Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

Volume

21

Issue

1

fYear

2002

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

8

Abstract

A novel method for detection and imaging of microcalcifications in breast tissue is presented. The method, called vibro-acoustography, uses the radiation force of ultrasound to vibrate tissue at low (kHz) frequency and utilizes the resulting response to produce images that are related to the hardness of the tissue. The method is tested on human breast tissues. The resulting vibro-acoustographic images are in agreement with corresponding X-ray mammography images of the specimens. The existence of microcalcifications in locations indicated by vibro-acoustography is confirmed by histology. Microcalcifications as small as 110 μm in diameter are detected by this method. Resulting vibro-acoustographic images show microcalcifications with high contrast with respect to the background soft tissue. Structures such as dense sclerotic tissue do not seem to interfere with detection of microcalcifications.

Keywords

biological tissues; biomechanics; biomedical ultrasonics; cancer; hardness; mammography; 110 micron; X-ray mammography images; background soft tissue; breast tissue; dense sclerotic tissue; medical diagnostic imaging; microcalcifications imaging; ultrasound radiation force; vibroacoustic tissue mammography; Biomedical imaging; Biopsy; Breast tissue; Cancer detection; Costs; Mammography; Medical diagnostic imaging; Physiology; Ultrasonic imaging; X-ray imaging; Breast Neoplasms; Calcinosis; Elasticity; Feasibility Studies; Female; Humans; Image Enhancement; Mammography; Models, Theoretical; Phantoms, Imaging; Sensitivity and Specificity; Ultrasonography, Mammary;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Medical Imaging, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0278-0062

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/42.981229

Filename

981229