Application of digital image cross-correlation and smoothing function to the diagnosis of breast cancer

Digital image correlation (DIC) algorithm was applied to 2D and 3D B-mode ultrasound (US) images to create 2D and 3D elastograms based on displacement-gradient. The roughness of elastograms caused by signal noises and sub-pixel errors could be greatly improved by employing the smoothing function based on the penalized least square regression method. Using the smoothed elastogram, the size and the relative modulus of the inclusion could be estimated with a reasonable accuracy. The study suggests that the 2D and 3D displacement-gradient elastograms acquired by the combination of DIC and smoothing function have the potential to diagnose pathological tissues in-vivo, and to provide new information that is related to tissue structure and/or pathology.