3-D quantitative microwave breast imaging system for comparison with MRI

描述（由申请人提供）：迫切需要开发一种负担得起的、非电离的三维（3-D）定量成像模式，用于筛查乳腺癌风险较高的女性，并监测乳腺组织特性响应治疗方案的变化。鉴于人们日益认识到乳房密度在个体化风险评估和预防决策中的重要性，还需要开发这样一种模式，用于评估一般人群的乳房密度，并监测预防干预措施引起的密度变化。三维微波成像--一种非电离分子成像技术，可检测乳腺组织的内源性（可能也受外源性影响）介电特性--具有满足这些需求的巨大潜力。长期目标是开发微波成像技术，并将其整合到乳腺护理临床医生可用的工具库中。该项目旨在实现这一长期目标，旨在开发和评估基于先进传感器硬件、算法和计算平台的3-D定量微波成像系统，并证明对乳腺MRI（临床3-D基准）进行严格验证微波成像的可行性。为实现这一目标，将追求以下具体目标：1）构建一种紧凑、高效的三维微波传感器系统，能够与MRI配准; 2）开发与硬件系统集成的计算高效的高分辨率三维微波成像算法;以及3）对人类研究受试者进行小规模概念验证成像研究。该项目在临床应用和技术方法方面都具有创新性。首先，乳腺密度评估和乳腺癌的对比增强检测代表了微波成像的两个新方向。第二，我们的非侵入性定量微波成像系统将采用密集3-D阵列中的高效多频带小型化天线和多频率、生理约束的3-D逆散射算法。最重要的是，创新的系统配置将在MRI（基准）和微波（测试）扫描期间保持乳房的位置，从而实现对微波乳房成像的客观和明确的验证。这项拟议的研究意义重大，因为它有望为三维微波乳腺成像的疗效提供临床证据，并最终产生一种负担得起的，广泛可用的，安全的成像解决方案，用于普通人群的自动化，定量乳腺密度评估和癌症筛查目前服务不足的女性亚群已知风险较高。 公共卫生相关性：这里提出的微波成像技术已被证明有潜力作为一个负担得起的，非电离定量乳腺成像模式，是敏感的分子变化在乳房。重要的公共卫生应用包括对高风险患者进行乳腺癌筛查，监测乳腺组织特性的变化以应对预防和治疗方案，以及评估普通人群的乳腺密度以进行风险评估。预计这些成果最终将对全世界妇女的健康产生积极影响，特别是那些患乳腺癌风险最高和服务不足的妇女。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is a critical need to develop an affordable, non-ionizing, three-dimensional (3-D) quantitative imaging modality for screening women who are at higher risk for breast cancer and monitoring changes in breast tissue properties in response to treatment protocols. Given increasing recognition of the importance of breast density in individualized risk assessment and prevention decisions, there is also an emerging need to develop such a modality for evaluating breast density in the general population and monitoring changes in density in response to preventative interventions. 3-D microwave imaging - a non-ionizing molecular imaging technique that senses the endogenous (and possibly exogenously influenced) dielectric properties of breast tissue - has great potential to meet these needs. The long-term goal is to develop and integrate microwave imaging into the arsenal of tools available to the breast care clinician. The objective of this project, which is directed toward achieving this long-term goal, is to develop and evaluate a 3-D quantitative microwave imaging system based on advanced sensor hardware, algorithms, and computational platforms and to demonstrate the feasibility of performing a rigorous validation of microwave imaging against breast MRI, a clinical 3-D benchmark. The following specific aims will be pursued to achieve this objective: 1) Construct a compact, efficient 3-D microwave sensor system that enables co-registration with MRI; 2) Develop computationally efficient high- resolution 3-D microwave imaging algorithms that are integrated with the hardware system; and 3) Conduct a small-scale proof-of-concept imaging study with human research subjects. The project is innovative both in terms of the clinical applications and the technical approach. First, breast density evaluation and contrast- enhanced detection of breast cancer represent two new directions for microwave imaging. Second, our non- invasive quantitative microwave imaging system will employ efficient multi-band miniaturized antennas in a dense 3-D array and multi-frequency, physiologically constrained, 3-D inverse scattering algorithms. Most importantly, an innovative system configuration will maintain the position of the breast during both the MRI (benchmark) and microwave (test) scans, enabling an objective and unambiguous validation of microwave breast imaging. The proposed research is significant because it is expected to provide clinical evidence of the efficacy of 3-D microwave breast imaging and ultimately yield an affordable, widely available, and safe imaging solution for automated, quantitative breast density evaluation in the general population and cancer screening in a currently underserved sub-population of women who are known to be at higher risk. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The microwave imaging technology proposed here has demonstrated potential as an affordable, non-ionizing quantitative breast imaging modality that is sensitive to molecular changes in the breast. Important public health applications include breast cancer screening for high-risk patients, monitoring changes in breast tissue properties in response to prevention and treatment protocols, and evaluating breast density in the general population for risk assessment. The outcomes are expected to ultimately have a positive impact on the health of women worldwide, particularly those who are at greatest risk for breast cancer and who are in underserved populations.