MR Elastrography for Breast Cancer Detection

描述（由申请人提供）： 乳腺癌是女性最常见的癌症。早期诊断对于良好的临床结果至关重要，但由于难以检测到小肿瘤而变得复杂。一个明确区分健康组织和癌组织的物理特性是机械刚度（硬度）。由于这个原因，触诊长期以来一直用于早期筛查。研究人员已经尝试将联合收割机外部机械刺激和磁共振成像（MRI）相结合来定量测量杨氏模量（即，硬度）。这种技术，磁共振弹性成像（MRE），被称为“触诊在一个距离。“与地雷风险教育有关的最具挑战性的技术问题是“逆问题”的解决，即，从MRI测量的组织位移数据定量推断杨氏模量。 该项目的具体目标是开发利用磁共振成像加强乳腺癌检测和诊断的方法和设备。为了实现这一目标，我们将开发分析解决方案技术，以提高反问题解决方案的效率和鲁棒性，并设计和实现一个现实的临床系统。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women. Early diagnosis, which is critical for favorable clinical outcomes, is complicated by the difficulty of detecting small tumors. One physical property that clearly distinguishes healthy from cancerous tissue is mechanical stiffness (hardness). For this reason, palpation has long been used for early screening. Researchers have attempted to combine external mechanical stimulation and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to quantitatively measure the Young's modulus (i.e., stiffness) of tissue throughout both the breast and the prostate. This technique, Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE), has been called "palpation at a distance." The most challenging technical issue associated with MRE is the solution of the "inverse problem," i.e., quantitatively inferring Young's modulus from MRI-measured tissue displacement data. The specific aim of this project is to develop methods and devices for enhancing breast cancer detection and diagnosis using MRE. To achieve this aim, we will develop analytical solution techniques to improve the efficiency and robustness of the inverse problem solution and design and implement a realistic clinical system.