A Visco-elastography Imaging System for Breast Cancer

振动弹性成像（VE）涉及使用专门设计的振动器向组织施加振动，并对组织的内部运动进行成像，以确定组织的硬度和粘性。关于组织的机械性质与病理学的相关性有大量文献。振动弹性成像可以被认为是远程客观触诊的一种形式。我们的目标是开发一个振动弹性成像系统，并在一个小的患者研究中进行评估，以确定弹性，粘性和乳腺癌肿块之间的关系。目前的目标是确定振动弹性成像是否可以补充传统超声提供的信息，传统超声用于引导针朝向可疑区域进行活检。

Vibro-elastography (VE) involves applying a vibration to tissue with a specially designed vibrator and imaging the internal motion of the tissue to determine how stiff and how viscous tissue is. There is a vast literature on the correlation of mechanical properties of tissue with pathology. Vibro-elastography can be thought of as a form of remote objective palpation. Our goal is to develop a vibro-elastography system and evaluate it in a small patient study to determine the relationship between elasticity, viscosity and cancerous breast masses. The immediate goal is to determine whether vibro-elastography can supplement the information provided by conventional ultrasound used to guide a needle toward a suspicious region for biopsy.