Simultaneous Microwave and MR Imaging for Improved Diagnosis of Breast Abnormalities

项目概要/摘要 该学术-工业合作伙伴关系 (AIP) 提案 (PAR-18-009) 将开发和评估创新 同时执行微波和磁共振的多模态乳腺成像平台 成像（sMMRI）。它包含多位主要研究者 (multi-PI) 研究计划和 AIP 治理 利用达特茅斯、达特茅斯-希区柯克和 Quality Electrodynamics (QED) 专业知识的结构 生物医学工程、MRI 和微波物理、计算反演和估计以及乳腺 放射学。行业合作伙伴 QED 将运用其在专业化设计和实施方面的丰富经验 MRI 线圈将与达特茅斯的微波成像 (MI) 电子设备完全集成并兼容 孔内天线阵列。迄今为止，我们已经证明了sMMRI的技术可行性，并实现了 原型机首次成功进行了临床乳房检查。虽然 sMMRI 的潜在前景 被建议，特别是在获取组织电的定量准确的空间图方面 性质（即介电常数和电导率），需要进一步的技术创新和更多的经验 sMMRI 在技术上和临床上都需要充分开发该技术以进行全面的临床 评价。推进和优化乳腺 sMMRI，同时增加我们对其临床的了解 潜力，我们建议 (1) 开发 MRI（接收）线圈并将其与 MI 天线阵列集成，以优化 MRI 和 MI 图像质量以及 sMMRI 临床乳房检查期间的乳房覆盖范围，(2) 估计乳房组织 通过将 MRI 解剖先验编码到 3D 重建过程中，从 sMMRI 数据中获得电特性， (3) 使用 sMMRI 完成模型和临床乳腺成像实验，以评估和优化 提出技术发展建议，并对未确诊乳房的女性进行临床研究 异常来检验 sMMRI 单独提高乳腺 MR 特异性的假设。如果研究我们 如果建议成功，我们将实现一个已准备就绪的创新多模态乳腺成像平台 参与未来对其诊断性能的更大规模的统计临床研究。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT This Academic-Industry Partnership, AIP, proposal (PAR-18-009) will develop and evaluate an innovative multi-modality breast imaging platform that performs simultaneous Microwave and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (sMMRI). It incorporates a multiple-principal-investigator (multi-PI) research plan and AIP governance structure that leverages expertise from Dartmouth, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, and Quality Electrodynamics (QED) in biomedical engineering, MRI and microwave physics, computational inversion and estimation, and breast radiology. Industry partner QED will apply its extensive experience in design and implementation of specialized MRI coils that will be fully integrated and compatible with Dartmouth’s microwave imaging (MI) electronics and in-bore antenna array. To date, we have demonstrated technical feasibility of sMMRI and have realized a prototype that has delivered the first successful clinical breast exams. While potential promise of sMMRI has been suggested, especially in terms of acquiring quantitatively-accurate spatial maps of tissue electrical properties (i.e. permittivity and conductivity), further technical innovations are needed and more experience with sMMRI, both technically and clinically, is required to develop the technology sufficiently for a full clinical evaluation. To advance and optimize sMMRI of the breast while also increasing our understanding of its clinical potential, we propose to (1) develop and integrate MRI (receive) coils with MI antenna arrays to optimize MRI and MI image quality, and breast coverage during an sMMRI clinical breast exam, (2) estimate breast tissue electrical properties from sMMRI data by encoding MRI anatomical priors into the 3D reconstruction process, and (3) complete phantom and clinical breast imaging experiments with sMMRI to evaluate and optimize the proposed technical developments, and to conduct a clinical study in women with undiagnosed breast abnormalities to test the hypothesis that sMMRI improves the specificity of breast MR alone. If the studies we propose are successful, we will have realized an innovative multi-modality breast imaging platform that is ready for involvement in larger statistically-powered clinical studies of its diagnostic performance in the future.