Quantitative Ultrasonic Imaging of the Breast

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议合作伙伴关系的长期目标是开发、统一、完善和实施一种通过量化组织微观结构对生物组织和乳腺肿瘤进行定量超声（QUS）成像的新方法。通俗地说，如果研究成功，许多乳房异常和病变可以在不需要活检的情况下被诊断出来。我们合作的总体假设是，一组QUS参数可以显着提高乳腺病变的分化/分类。要利用的主要QUS参数包括衰减、散射体尺寸、散射体数密度和声学浓度（散射体数密度乘以其阻抗变化）。在这个项目的前5年，我们的目标是通过开发、测试和验证模拟、幻影、体外和体内动物模型实验以及初步的人体试验，为新的（可能是革命性的，但肯定是进化性的）诊断成像能力奠定基础。在第二个5年中，我们将把分析扩展到常见的乳腺病变之外，开始II期临床试验，并致力于创建自动化工具，以帮助诊断乳腺异常。该伙伴关系是在UIUC的工程师，声学物理学家，统计学家和兽医病理学家与UW的物理学家，工程师，病理学家和放射学家之间建立的。PI是William D。小奥布莱恩（UIUC），并作为共同的Pi是蒂莫西J.霍尔（UW）。QUS成像的使用具有医学意义，因为它提供了一种潜在的实时和非侵入性的方法来区分/分类肿瘤类型并跟踪其对治疗的反应。为此，提出了5个具体目标，即：1)将QUS算法与体内模拟、体模和动物肿瘤模型相统一，2）将声学显微结构测量与解剖散射源相关联，3）监测体内动物模型中QUS参数与肿瘤生长的变化，4）将人类受试者中的肿瘤与动物模型中的肿瘤进行比较，以及5）开发主要的外展活动。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term goal of the proposed partnership is to develop, unify, refine and implement a new approach to quantitative ultrasound (QUS) imaging of biological tissues and mammary tumors by the quantification of tissue microstructure. In lay terms, if the research is successful, many breast abnormalities and lesions can be diagnosed without the need for a biopsy. The overall hypothesis of our partnership is that a set of QUS parameters can significantly improve breast lesion differentiation/classification. The primary QUS parameters to be exploited include attenuation, scatterer size, scatterer number density, and acoustic concentration (scatterer number density times their impedance change). Our goal in the first 5 years of this project is to lay the foundation for a new (possibly revolutionary but definitely evolutionary) diagnostic imaging capability through development, testing, and verification with simulations, phantoms, and in vitro and in vivo animal model experiments, as well as preliminary human subjecting testing. In the second 5 years we will extend the analysis beyond common breast lesions, begin Phase II clinical trials and work towards the creation of automated tools to assist in the diagnosis of breast abnormalities. The partnership is between engineers, acoustic physicists, statisticians and veterinary pathologists at UIUC and physicists, engineers, pathologists and radiologists at UW. The PI is William D. O'Brien, Jr. (UIUC), and functioning as the co-Pi is Timothy J. Hall (UW). Use of QUS imaging is medically significant because it offers a potentially real-time and noninvasive means of differentiation/classification tumor types and tracking their response to therapy. To this end, 5 specific aims are proposed, viz., 1) unify QUS algorithms with simulations, phantoms and animal tumor models in vivo, 2) associate acoustic microstructural measurements with anatomical scattering sources, 3) monitor the changes in QUS parameters with tumor growth in in vivo animal models, 4) compare tumors in human subjects with those in animal models, and 5) develop a major outreach activity.