Mehrmohammadi Mohammad, Song Pengfei, Meixner Duane D, Fazzio Robert T, Chen Shigao, Greenleaf James F, Fatemi Mostafa, Alizad Azra
IEEE Trans Med Imaging. 2015 Jan;34(1):97-106. doi: 10.1109/TMI.2014.2346498. Epub 2014 Aug 8.
In clinical practice, an overwhelming majority of biopsied thyroid nodules are benign. Therefore, there is a need for a complementary and noninvasive imaging tool to provide clinically relevant diagnostic information about thyroid nodules to reduce the rate of unnecessary biopsies. The goal of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing comb-push ultrasound shear elastography (CUSE) to measure the mechanical properties (i.e., stiffness) of thyroid nodules and use this information to help classify nodules as benign or malignant. CUSE is a fast and robust 2-D shear elastography technique in which multiple laterally distributed acoustic radiation force beams are utilized simultaneously to produce shear waves. Unlike other shear elasticity imaging modalities, CUSE does not suffer from limited field of view (FOV) due to shear wave attenuation and can provide a large FOV at high frame rates. To evaluate the utility of CUSE in thyroid imaging, a preliminary study was performed on a group of five healthy volunteers and 10 patients with ultrasound-detected thyroid nodules prior to fine needle aspiration biopsy. The measured shear wave speeds in normal thyroid tissue and thyroid nodules were converted to Young's modulus (E), indicating a measure of tissue stiffness. Our results indicate an increase in E for thyroid nodules compared to normal thyroid tissue. This increase was significantly higher in malignant nodules compared to benign. The Young's modulus in normal thyroid tissue, benign and malignant nodules were found to be 23.2 ±8.29 kPa, 91.2±34.8 kPa, and 173.0±17.1 kPa, respectively. Results of this study suggest the utility of CUSE in differentiating between benign and malignant thyroid nodules.
在临床实践中,绝大多数经活检的甲状腺结节是良性的。因此,需要一种辅助性的非侵入性成像工具,以提供有关甲状腺结节的临床相关诊断信息,从而降低不必要活检的发生率。本研究的目的是评估利用梳状推挤式超声剪切弹性成像(CUSE)测量甲状腺结节力学特性(即硬度)并利用该信息辅助将结节分类为良性或恶性的可行性。CUSE是一种快速且可靠的二维剪切弹性成像技术,它同时利用多个横向分布的声辐射力束来产生剪切波。与其他剪切弹性成像方式不同,CUSE不会因剪切波衰减而受到视野(FOV)受限的影响,并且能够以高帧率提供大视野。为了评估CUSE在甲状腺成像中的效用,在一组5名健康志愿者和10名在细针穿刺活检前经超声检测出甲状腺结节的患者身上进行了一项初步研究。将正常甲状腺组织和甲状腺结节中测得的剪切波速度转换为杨氏模量(E),它表示组织硬度的一种度量。我们的结果表明,与正常甲状腺组织相比,甲状腺结节的E值有所增加。与良性结节相比,恶性结节中的这种增加显著更高。正常甲状腺组织、良性和恶性结节中的杨氏模量分别为23.2±8.29kPa、91.2±34.8kPa和173.0±17.1kPa。本研究结果表明CUSE在鉴别甲状腺良性和恶性结节方面具有效用。