Computer-Assisted Applications in Medicine, ETH Zurich.
Breast Cancer Center, Comprehensive Cancer Center Zurich, University Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Invest Radiol. 2019 Jul;54(7):419-427. doi: 10.1097/RLI.0000000000000553.
The aim of this study was to differentiate malignant and benign solid breast lesions with a novel ultrasound (US) technique, which measures speed of sound (SoS) using standard US transducers and intrinsic tissue reflections and scattering (speckles) as internal reference.
This prospective, institutional review board-approved, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant prospective comparison study was performed with prior written informed consent from 20 women. Ten women with histological proven breast cancer and 10 with fibroadenoma were measured. A conventional US system with a linear probe was used for SoS-US (SonixTouch; Ultrasonix, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada). Tissue speckle reflections served as a timing reference for the US signals transmitted through the breasts. Relative phase inconsistencies were detected using plane wave measurements from different angular directions, and SoS images with 0.5-mm resolution were generated using a spatial domain reconstruction algorithm. The SoS of tumors were compared with the breast density of a larger cohort of 106 healthy women.
Breast lesions show focal increments ΔSoS (meters per second) with respect to the tissue background. Peak ΔSoS values were evaluated. Breast carcinoma showed significantly higher ΔSoS than fibroadenomas ([INCREMENT]SoS > 41.64 m/s: sensitivity, 90%; specificity, 80%; area under curve, 0.910) and healthy breast tissue of different densities (area under curve, 0.938; sensitivity, 90%; specificity, 96.5%). The lesion localization in SoS-US images was consistent with B-mode imaging and repeated SoS-US measurements were reproducible.
Using SoS-US, based on conventional US and tissue speckles as timing reference, breast carcinoma showed significantly higher SoS values than fibroadenoma and healthy breast tissue of different densities. The SoS presents a promising technique for differentiating solid breast lesions.
本研究旨在使用一种新的超声（US）技术来区分恶性和良性实性乳腺病变，该技术使用标准 US 换能器和固有组织反射和散射（散斑）作为内部参考来测量声速（SoS）。
这项前瞻性的、经机构审查委员会批准的、符合《健康保险流通与责任法案》的前瞻性比较研究，是在 20 名女性书面知情同意的情况下进行的。10 名患有组织学证实的乳腺癌的女性和 10 名患有纤维腺瘤的女性接受了测量。使用带有线性探头的常规 US 系统进行 SoS-US（SonixTouch；Ultrasonix，Richmond，British Columbia，Canada）。组织散斑反射用作通过乳房传输的 US 信号的定时参考。使用来自不同角度的平面波测量检测相对相位不一致，并使用空间域重建算法生成具有 0.5-mm 分辨率的 SoS 图像。将肿瘤的 SoS 与 106 名健康女性的更大队列的乳腺密度进行比较。
乳腺病变相对于组织背景显示出焦点增量 ΔSoS（米/秒）。评估了峰值 ΔSoS 值。乳腺癌的 SoS 明显高于纤维腺瘤（[增量]SoS>41.64m/s：灵敏度 90%，特异性 80%，曲线下面积 0.910）和不同密度的健康乳腺组织（曲线下面积 0.938；灵敏度 90%，特异性 96.5%）。SoS-US 图像中的病变定位与 B 模式成像一致，并且重复的 SoS-US 测量是可重复的。
使用基于常规 US 和组织散斑作为定时参考的 SoS-US，乳腺癌的 SoS 值明显高于纤维腺瘤和不同密度的健康乳腺组织。SoS 是一种有前途的区分实性乳腺病变的技术。
