Anatomy-Correlated Breast Imaging and Visual Grading Analysis Using Quantitative Transmission Ultrasound™

Abstract

Objectives. This study presents correlations between cross-sectional anatomy of human female breasts and Quantitative Transmission (QT) Ultrasound, does discriminate classifier analysis to validate the speed of sound correlations, and does a visual grading analysis comparing QT Ultrasound with mammography. Materials and Methods. Human cadaver breasts were imaged using QT Ultrasound, sectioned, and photographed. Biopsies confirmed microanatomy and areas were correlated with QT Ultrasound images. Measurements were taken in live subjects from QT Ultrasound images and values of speed of sound for each identified anatomical structure were plotted. Finally, a visual grading analysis was performed on images to determine whether radiologists' confidence in identifying breast structures with mammography (XRM) is comparable to QT Ultrasound. Results. QT Ultrasound identified all major anatomical features of the breast, and speed of sound calculations showed specific values for different breast tissues. Using linear discriminant analysis overall accuracy is 91.4%. Using visual grading analysis readers scored the image quality on QT Ultrasound as better than on XRM in 69%–90% of breasts for specific tissues. Conclusions. QT Ultrasound provides accurate anatomic information and high tissue specificity using speed of sound information. Quantitative Transmission Ultrasound can distinguish different types of breast tissue with high resolution and accuracy.

3-D Nonlinear Acoustic Inverse Scattering: Algorithm and Quantitative Results

“…We believe this is due to the ability of our algorithm to differentiate between glandular elements (speed values 1517-1567 m/s) from ductal tissue elements (speed values 1560 – 1612 m/s) as verified in [29] by histology. These TDLUs are ~1 – 4 mm in size.…”

“…In other cases, we had observed that a low speed artifact of this type occurred internally as well, as shown in Figure 15. This anomalous speed value is substantially below even that of fat, and is problematic, since we have observed that solid lesions are characteristically higher speed (1570 m/s and higher) than fat, ductal, glandular tissue and complex or simple cysts[29]. Also, the attenuation in this 2D image was as high as 24 dB/cm/MHz.…”

“…The morphological accuracy of these images was verified by a radiologist (E. Iuanow, MD) and an oncologist specializing in breast anatomy (J. Klock, MD). In fact, as established in[29], there is a strong correlation between the cross-sectional anatomy of the breast and the QT Ultrasound ®images.…”

“…It can be argued that this pattern is “speckle-like”. However, we believe it is a deterministic representation of the tissue characteristics for several reasons given in [34]. Furthermore, recall that the speckle that is associated with B-mode images is the result of scattering from sub-wavelength scatterers presumed to be randomly distributed throughout the tissue being imaged.…”

“…The SOS inversion is model based and the compounding is carried out within the operation of the algorithm rather than after the fact. The observed variation in the speed of sound between the glandular tissue and the ductal tissue is approximately 1542 vs 1586 m/s [34]. Furthermore, the standard deviations are 25 and 26 m/s respectively, so the spread in speed of sound can be much higher.…”