Three dimensional ultrasonic elasticity imaging

三维超声弹性成像

• 批准号: EP/E030505/1
• 负责人: Jeffrey Bamber
• 金额: $ 62.88万
• 依托单位: Institute of Cancer Research
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2007 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FE030505%2F1
• 关键词: Three; dimensional; ultrasonic; elasticity; imaging

Ultrasonic imaging is a safe, inexpensive way of looking inside thebody. Unfortunately, not everything shows up clearly in anultrasound scan. Tumours can be hard to see, becausethey often reflect sound in much the same way as the surroundingtissue. Even when they are detectable, their boundaries can beindistinct. This makes it difficult for surgeons to plan preciselywhat to cut out, or for clinicians to assess how well a tumour isresponding to treatment. However, tumours are often stiffer thantheir surroundings. If ultrasound could show the tissue'sstiffness, instead of the way it reflects sound, then tumours would bemuch easier to spot and delineate.This is what ultrasonic elastography sets out to achieve. There areseveral flavours of elastography, but we're going to focus on onewhich involves taking a series of conventional ultrasound pictureswhile the clinician presses down with varying pressure. If we comparetwo images in the sequence, stiff structures (like tumours) won'tchange much, whereas less stiff structures will be deformed. Imageprocessing algorithms can look at the two images and deduce thedeformation of each bit of tissue. We can therefore build up a map ofthe tissue's elasticity.Clinicians can already purchase equipment offering real-timeelastography, but what they get are two-dimensional (2D) pictures,corresponding to slices through the anatomy, and not a 3D map of thetissue's elasticity. Unfortunately, without the 3D map, it isdifficult to plan surgery and monitor a tumour's response totreatment. This is where this research proposal comes in. It bringstogether internationally leading groups in the areas of ultrasonicelastography (London) and 3D ultrasound (Cambridge) with the goal ofdeveloping 3D ultrasonic elastography.The research will progress on parallel high and low risk paths. Thelow risk work will look at ways of recording a series of 2Delastograms, at closely packed locations in space, and then stackingthem together to make a 3D image. We could get the clinician to sweepthe probe over the area of interest, recording elastograms all thewhile: this is the freehand approach. Or we could use a special 3Dprobe, inside which the innards of a 2D probe are mounted on a rockermechanism driven by a stepper motor. In this mechanical approach, theclinician holds the probe still, while the motor sweeps the beam overthe target area. We will implement both approaches and compare theireffectiveness in terms of imaging quality and ease of use. We willalso look at ways of exploiting the 3D nature of the data to improvethe clarity of the elastograms. This low risk research will interfaceclosely with the project's clinical objectives, to evaluate 3Delastography in the context of cancers of the breast andbrain. Feedback from the collaborating clinicians is important if theengineers are to develop technology which could actually affect theeveryday management of cancer patients.Meanwhile, the high risk path will attempt to build more detailedelastograms by measuring tissue deformation in 3D. Currently,elastography algorithms assess tissue deformation only in thedirection of the applied pressure. However, the tissue actuallydeforms in all three dimensions, and by measuring this weshould be able to make better elastograms and glean moreclinically useful information about the material's properties. Butmeasuring 3D deformation is hard, mostly because we can only make highresolution measurements in the direction of the ultrasound wave'spropagation, which is perpendicular to the skin surface. Tomeasure deformation in other directions, we will need tocontrol the ultrasound scanner to steer the waves moretangentially. Our aim is to image each bit of tissue from differentdirections while the applied pressure is varied. We will then need todevelop algorithms to deduce the 3D deformation from this rich data.

超声成像是一种安全、廉价的观察体内情况的方法。不幸的是，并不是所有的东西都能在超声波扫描中清楚地显示出来。肿瘤很难被看到，因为它们反射声音的方式和周围组织的反射方式几乎一样。即使它们是可检测的，它们的边界也可能是模糊的。这使得外科医生很难精确地计划切除什么，或者临床医生很难评估肿瘤对治疗的反应。然而，肿瘤通常比周围环境更坚硬。如果超声波能显示组织的硬度，而不是它反射声音的方式，那么肿瘤就更容易被发现和描绘。这就是超声波弹性成像的目标。弹性成像有几种方法，但我们将集中讨论一种方法，即在临床医生用不同的压力按压的同时，拍摄一系列常规的超声图像。如果我们比较序列中的两个图像，坚硬的结构（如肿瘤）不会有太大变化，而不太坚硬的结构会变形。图像处理算法可以查看这两张图像并推断出每一位组织的变形。因此，我们可以建立一个组织弹性图。临床医生已经可以购买提供实时弹性成像的设备，但他们得到的是二维（2D）图像，对应于解剖结构的切片，而不是组织弹性的3D图。不幸的是，没有3D地图，很难计划手术和监测肿瘤对治疗的反应。这就是这个研究计划的由来。它汇集了超声弹性成像（伦敦）和3D超声（剑桥）领域的国际领先团队，目标是开发3D超声弹性成像。研究将在平行的高风险和低风险路径上进行。低风险的工作将着眼于记录一系列2D图像的方法，在空间中紧密排列的位置，然后将它们堆叠在一起以制作3D图像。我们可以让临床医生将探针扫过感兴趣的区域，同时记录弹性图：这就是徒手法。或者我们可以使用一个特殊的3D探头，其中2D探头的内部安装在由步进电机驱动的摇杆机构上。在这种机械方法中，临床医生保持探针不动，而马达将光束扫过目标区域。我们将实施这两种方法，并比较其在成像质量和易用性方面的有效性。我们还将研究如何利用数据的3D特性来提高弹性图的清晰度。这项低风险研究将与该项目的临床目标密切相关，以评估乳腺癌和脑癌背景下的3Delastography。如果工程师们要开发出能够真正影响癌症患者日常管理的技术，那么来自合作的临床医生的反馈就很重要。同时，高风险路径将尝试通过测量3D组织变形来构建更详细的弹性图。目前，弹性成像算法仅在施加压力的方向上评估组织变形。然而，组织实际上在所有三个维度上都发生了变形，通过测量，我们应该能够做出更好的弹性图，并收集更多关于材料特性的临床有用信息。但是测量3D变形是困难的，主要是因为我们只能在超声波传播的方向上进行高分辨率的测量，这个方向垂直于皮肤表面。为了测量其他方向的变形，我们需要控制超声波扫描仪使波更切向地移动。我们的目标是从不同的方向对每一个组织进行成像，同时施加不同的压力。然后，我们将需要开发算法，从这些丰富的数据中推断出3D变形。

项目成果

Characterisation of Prostate Lesions Using Transrectal Shear Wave Elastography (SWE) Ultrasound Imaging: A Systematic Review.

• DOI: 10.3390/cancers13010122
• 发表时间: 2021-01-02
• 期刊: Cancers
• 影响因子: 5.2
• 作者: Anbarasan T;Wei C;Bamber JC;Barr RG;Nabi G
• 通讯作者: Nabi G

A two-dimensional locally regularized strain estimation technique: preliminary clinical results for the assessment of benign and malignant breast lesions

二维局部正则应变估计技术：评估乳腺良恶性病变的初步临床结果

• DOI: 10.1117/12.877683
• 发表时间: 2011
• 作者: Brusseau E

Comment on new technology--ultrasound elastography.

评新技术——超声弹性成像。

• DOI: 10.1055/s-2008-1080979
• 发表时间: 2008
• 期刊: 1980)
• 作者: Bamber JC

Tissue motion assessment and biomechanical property imaging update (invited short-course)

组织运动评估和生物力学特性成像更新（邀请短期课程）

• 发表时间: 2012
• 期刊: Proc. IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium
• 作者: Bamber JC

In Vivo response to compression of 35 breast lesions observed with a two-dimensional locally regularized strain estimation method.

使用二维局部正则化应变估计方法观察 35 个乳腺病变的体内压缩反应。

• DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2013.02.017
• 发表时间: 2014
• 期刊: Ultrasound in medicine & biology
• 影响因子: 2.9
• 作者: Brusseau E