BREAST MICROCALCIFICATION VISUALIZATION WITH ULTRASOUND

描述（改编自申请人的摘要）： 乳腺X线筛查中的重要诊断指标。 目前，常规的X射线乳房X线摄影术是检查乳腺癌的黄金标准。 微钙化的检测和诊断。 然而， 传统的乳房X线摄影术可以在存在 致密的乳房实质，大约四分之一的女性中发现。 乳腺超声是乳房X光检查的有力辅助手段，但它在 乳房诊所从根本上受到目前无法 超声技术，以可靠地可视化微钙化。 的 用超声改善微钙化的可视化将具有 对乳腺癌的管理产生重大影响， 在乳房X线检查具有挑战性的病例中的诊断信息， 减少不必要的活检次数。 尽管发展迅速， 医学超声的最新发展， 关于微钙化可视化的超声系统设计 没有被调查。 拟议研究的长期目标是 为了改善乳房中微钙化的可视化， 医学超声 使用他们开发的技术， 实施时，申请人建议在切除的组织中进行， 体内研究，以收集高质量的超声数据， 微钙化和乳腺组织。 这些数据将用于 表征微钙化和乳腺癌的反向散射特性 组织，以测试微钙化与 经典的Faran模型，以测量乳房中的相位畸变，并 评估几个物理因素对可视化的相对影响 微钙化 这些因素将是斑点噪声、空间 分辨率和相位畸变。 将使用经验和模型结果 评估几种建议的方法的相对功效， 可视化，并规定超声系统性能标准 以实现可靠的可视化。 体外研究也将 进行评估谐波成像技术的潜力，以改善 微钙化可视化。 假设优化 系统设计参数的可视化将提高 微钙化

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from Applicant's Abstract): Microcalcifications are important diagnostic indicators in the mammographic screening of the breast. Currently, conventional x-ray mammography is the gold standard for the detection and diagnosis of microcalcifications. However, the efficacy of conventional mammography can be significantly reduced in the presence of dense breast parenchyma, which is found in approximately one in four women. Breast ultrasound is a powerful adjunct to mammography, but its role in the breast clinic is fundamentally limited by the inability of current ultrasound technology to reliably visualize microcalcifications. The improved visualization of microcalcifications with ultrasound would have a significant impact on the management of breast cancer by contributing diagnostic information in mammographically challenging cases and potentially reducing the number of unnecessary biopsies. Despite the rapid development of the state of the art of medical ultrasound, the optimization of ultrasound system design with regard to microcalcification visualization has not been investigated. The long term objective of the proposed research is to improve the visualization of microcalcifications in the breast with medical ultrasound. Using techniques that they have developed and implemented, the applicants proposed to conduct in excised tissue and in vivo studies to collect high quality ultrasound data from microcalcifications and breast tissue. These data will be used to characterize the backscatter properties of microcalcifications and breast tissue, to test the validity of the modeling of microcalcifications with the classical Faran model, to measure phase aberration in the breast, and to assess the relative impact of several physical factors on the visualization of microcalcifications. These factors will be speckle noise, spatial resolution, and phase aberration. Empirical and model results will be used to evaluate the relative efficacy of several proposed means to improve visualization, and to specify the ultrasound system performance criterion required to achieve reliable visualization. In vitro studies will also be undertaken to assess the potential of harmonic imaging techniques to improve microcalcification visualization. It is hypothesized that the optimization of system design parameters will improve the visualization of microcalcifications with ultrasound.