Development of ultrasound tomography for breast imaging: Technical assessment
Development of ultrasound tomography for breast imaging: Technical assessment
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DOI：
10.1118/1.1897463
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发表时间：
2005-05-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.8
通讯作者：
Duncan, R
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Duric, N;Littrup, P;Duncan, R
超声成像因其良好的特性和实时功能而广泛应用于医学。物理理论表明，断层扫描技术的应用可以使超声成像充分发挥其作为诊断工具的潜力，使其能够与其他断层扫描方式（例如 X 射线计算机断层扫描和 MRI）竞争。本文描述了原型断层扫描仪的构造和使用，并报告了在实践中实施断层扫描理论的可行性以及超声（US）断层扫描在诊断成像中的潜力。通过扫描两种类型的模型和尸体乳房来收集原型的数据。开发并利用了一套专门的算法来根据模型数据构建反射率和声速的图像。基本结果可总结如下。 (i) 可以使用现有技术构建快速、临床相关的美国断层扫描仪。 (ii) 从反射率图像推导出的空间分辨率为 0.4 毫米。所展示的 10 厘米景深优于传统超声波，并且通过减少散斑噪声和整体降低本底噪声来提高图像对比度。 (iii) 声速等声学特性图像表明可以测量 5 m/s 的声速变化。与 X 射线衰减的明显相关性表明声速可用于区分各种类型的软组织。 (iv) 超声断层扫描有潜力改善与乳腺癌检测相关的诊断成像。 (c) 2005 年美国医学物理学家协会。
Ultrasound imaging is widely used in medicine because of its benign characteristics and real-time capabilities. Physics theory suggests that the application of tomographic techniques may allow ultrasound imaging to reach its full potential as a diagnostic tool allowing it to compete with other tomographic modalities such as x-ray computer tomography, and MRI. This paper describes the construction and use of a prototype tomographic scanner and reports on the feasibility of implementing tomographic theory in practice and the potential of ultrasound (US) tomography in diagnostic imaging. Data were collected with the prototype by scanning two types of phantoms and a cadaveric breast. A specialized suite of algorithms was developed and utilized to construct images of reflectivity and sound speed from the phantom data. The basic results can be summarized as follows. (i) A fast, clinically relevant US tomography scanner can be built using existing technology. (ii) The spatial resolution, deduced from images of reflectivity, is 0.4 mm. The demonstrated 10 cm depth-of-field is superior to that of conventional ultrasound and the image contrast is improved through the reduction of speckle noise and overall lowering of the noise floor. (iii) Images of acoustic properties such as sound speed suggest that it is possible to measure variations in the sound speed of 5 m/s. An apparent correlation with x-ray attenuation suggests that the sound speed can be used to discriminate between various types of soft tissue. (iv) Ultrasound tomography has the potential to improve diagnostic imaging in relation to breast cancer detection. (c) 2005 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.