Flexible ultrasonic array for breast-cancer diagnosis based on a self-shape-estimation algorithm
Flexible ultrasonic array for breast-cancer diagnosis based on a self-shape-estimation algorithm
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DOI：
10.1016/j.ultras.2020.106199
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发表时间：
2020-12-01
期刊：
影响因子：
4.2
通讯作者：
Lu, Chao
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Chang, Junjie;Chen, Zhiheng;Lu, Chao
乳腺癌是一种非常常见的恶性肿瘤，好发于35-70岁的女性（占患者的85%）。最近，它也出现在年轻女性身上。传统的超声换能器通常采用固定阵列，避免了乳腺X线摄影的辐射，成本低廉，可重复测试。这大大有利于乳腺癌的临床诊断。然而，固定换能器阵列的诊断过程对人体造成相当大的压力，很容易造成肿块移位或不必要的疼痛。因此，无压缩的超声乳腺癌诊断引起了人们的关注。在本研究中，我们使用柔性超声阵列记录肿块的超声信息，并提出了适合乳腺癌诊断的数学模型。然后，我们使用自形状估计算法来获得乳腺癌的二维 (2D) 超声图像。该算法通过模拟和实验阵列数据进行测试，并根据肿瘤位置评估其性能。通过数值模拟得到的面形误差小于0.8mm，估计质量位置的偏差小于1.24mm。肿瘤位置也是在乳腺癌模型中通过实验获得的。因此，本文提出的方法可以实现超声诊断，为乳腺癌提供了一种新的诊断工具。
Breast cancer is a very common malignant tumour that typically occurs in women aged 35-70 years (accounting for 85% of patients). Recently, it has been appearing in younger women as well. Traditional ultrasonic transducers usually use a fixed array, which avoids the radiation from mammography, has a low cost, and can be used for repeated testing. This substantially benefits the clinical diagnosis of breast cancer. However, the fixed transducer-array diagnosis process exerts considerable pressure on the human body, which can easily cause mass displacement or unnecessary pain. Therefore, ultrasound breast cancer diagnosis without compression has attracted attention.In this study, we used a flexible ultrasonic array to record the ultrasound information of the mass, and proposed a mathematical model suitable for breast-cancer diagnosis. Then, we used a self-shape-estimation algorithm to obtain a two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound image of the breast cancer. The algorithm was tested with simulated and experimental array data, and its performance was evaluated according to the tumour location. The surface-shape error obtained through the numerical simulation was less than 0.8 mm, and the deviation in the estimated mass position was less than 1.24 mm. The tumour location was also obtained experimentally in a breast-cancer model. Therefore, the method proposed in this paper can realize ultrasound diagnoses and represents a new diagnostic tool for breast cancer.