Simultaneous Microwave and MR Imaging for Improved Diagnosis of Breast Abnormalities

项目摘要/摘要 这项学术-产业伙伴关系，AIP，提案(PAR-18-009)将开发和评估一个创新的 同时进行微波和磁共振检查的多模乳腺成像平台 成像(SMMRI)。它结合了一个多主体-调查者(多PI)研究计划和AIP治理 利用达特茅斯、达特茅斯-希区柯克和质量电动力学(QED)的专业知识的结构 生物医学工程，核磁共振和微波物理，计算反演和估计，以及乳房 放射学。行业合作伙伴QED将应用其在设计和实施专门的 核磁共振线圈将完全集成并与达特茅斯的微波成像(MI)电子设备和 膛内天线阵。到目前为止，我们已经证明了sMMRI的技术可行性，并实现了 已经提供了第一次成功的临床乳房检查的原型。虽然sMMRI的潜在前景已经 特别是在获取定量准确的组织电学空间地图方面 性能(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 有了sMMRI，无论是在技术上还是在临床上，都需要充分发展这项技术，以实现全面的临床 评估。在改进和优化乳腺sMMRI的同时，增加对其临床的认识 潜力，我们建议(1)开发和集成MRI(接收)线圈和MI天线阵列以优化MRI 和MI图像质量，以及sMMRI临床乳房检查期间的乳房覆盖率，(2)估计乳房组织 通过将MRI解剖先验编码到3D重建过程中来自sMMRI数据的电特性， 以及(3)使用sMMRI完成体模和临床乳腺成像实验，以评估和优化 建议的技术发展，并对患有未确诊乳房的妇女进行临床研究 以检验sMMRI单独提高乳腺MR的特异性的假说。如果我们的研究 提出的建议是成功的，我们将实现一个创新的多模式乳腺成像平台 参与对其未来诊断性能的更大的统计支持的临床研究。

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.