Breast mass characterization using 3-dimensional automated ultrasound as an adjunct to digital breast tomosynthesis: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the effect of 3-dimensional automated ultrasound (3D-AUS) as an adjunct to digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) on radiologists' performance and confidence in discriminating malignant and benign breast masses. METHODS: Two-view DBT (craniocaudal and mediolateral oblique or lateral) and single-view 3D-AUS images were acquired from 51 patients with subsequently biopsy-proven masses (13 malignant and 38 benign). Six experienced radiologists rated, on a 13-point scale, the likelihood of malignancy of an identified mass, first by reading the DBT images alone, followed immediately by reading the DBT images with automatically coregistered 3D-AUS images. The diagnostic performance of each method was measured using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and changes in sensitivity and specificity with the McNemar test. After each reading, radiologists took a survey to rate their confidence level in using DBT alone versus combined DBT/3D-AUS as potential screening modalities. RESULTS: The 6 radiologists had an average area under the ROC curve of 0.92 for both modalities (range, 0.89-0.97 for DBT and 0.90-0.94 for DBT/3D-AUS). With a Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System rating of 4 as the threshold for biopsy recommendation, the average sensitivity of the radiologists increased from 96% to 100% (P > .08) with 3D-AUS, whereas the specificity decreased from 33% to 25% (P > .28). Survey responses indicated increased confidence in potentially using DBT for screening when 3D-AUS was added (P < .05 for each reader). CONCLUSIONS: In this initial reader study, no significant difference in ROC performance was found with the addition of 3D-AUS to DBT. However, a trend to improved discrimination of malignancy was observed when adding 3D-AUS. Radiologists' confidence also improved with DBT/3DAUS compared to DBT alone.

Image registration for detection and quantification of change on digital tomosynthesis mammographic volumes.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to achieve 3D registration of digital tomosynthesis mammographic volumes using mutual information. CONCLUSION: Registration of digital breast tomosynthesis mammographic volumes was achieved with an average error of 1.8 +/- 1.4 mm.

MRI enhancement in stromal tissue surrounding breast tumors: association with recurrence free survival following neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: Normal-appearing stromal tissues surrounding breast tumors can harbor abnormalities that lead to increased risk of local recurrence. The objective of this study was to develop a new imaging methodology to characterize the signal patterns of stromal tissue and to investigate their association with recurrence-free survival following neoadjuvant chemotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty patients with locally-advanced breast cancer were imaged with dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) before (V1) and after one cycle (V2) of adriamycin-cytoxan therapy. Contrast enhancement in normal-appearing stroma around the tumor was characterized by the mean percent enhancement (PE) and mean signal enhancement ratio (SER) in distance bands of 5 mm from the tumor edge. Global PE and SER were calculated by averaging all stromal bands 5 to 40 mm from tumor. Proximity-dependent PE and SER were analyzed using a linear mixed effects model and Cox proportional hazards model for recurrence-free survival. RESULTS: The mixed effects model displayed a decreasing radial trend in PE at both V1 and V2. An increasing trend was less pronounced in SER. Survival analysis showed that the hazard ratio estimates for each unit decrease in global SER was statistically significant at V1 [estimated hazard ratio = 0.058, 95% Wald CI (0.003, 1.01), likelihood ratio p = 0.03]; but was not so for V2. CONCLUSIONS: These findings show that stromal tissue outside the tumor can be quantitatively characterized by DCE-MRI, and suggest that stromal enhancement measurements may be further developed for use as a potential predictor of recurrence/disease-free survival following therapy.

High-resolution diffusion-weighted imaging for monitoring breast cancer treatment response.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this work was to compare a high-resolution diffusion-weighted imaging (HR-DWI) acquisition (voxel size = 4.8 mm(3)) to a standard diffusion-weighted imaging (STD-DWI) acquisition (voxel size = 29.3 mm(3)) for monitoring neoadjuvant therapy-induced changes in breast tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nine women with locally advanced breast cancer were imaged with both HR-DWI and STD-DWI before and after 3 weeks (early treatment) of neoadjuvant taxane-based treatment. Tumor apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) metrics (mean and histogram percentiles) from both DWI methods were calculated, and their relationship to tumor volume change after 12 weeks of treatment (posttreatment) measured by dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging was evaluated with a Spearman's rank correlation. RESULTS: The HR-DWI pretreatment 15th percentile tumor ADC (P = .03) and early treatment 15th, 25th, and 50th percentile tumor ADCs (P = .008, .010, .04, respectively) were significantly lower than the corresponding STD-DWI percentile ADCs. The mean tumor HR-ADC was significantly lower than STD-ADC at the early treatment time point (P = .02), but not at the pretreatment time point (P = .07). A significant early treatment increase in tumor ADC was found with both methods (P < .05). Correlations between HR-DWI tumor ADC and posttreatment tumor volume change were higher than the STD-DWI correlations at both time points and the lower percentile ADCs had the strongest correlations. CONCLUSION: These initial results suggest that the HR-DWI technique has potential for improving characterization of low tumor ADC values over STD-DWI and that HR-DWI may be of value in evaluating tumor change with treatment.

Large Area MEMS Based Ultrasound Device for Cancer Detection.

We present image results obtained using a prototype ultrasound array which demonstrates the fundamental architecture for a large area MEMS based ultrasound device for detection of breast cancer. The prototype array consists of a tiling of capacitive Micro-Machined Ultrasound Transducers (cMUTs) which have been flip-chip attached to a rigid organic substrate. The pitch on the cMUT elements is 185 um and the operating frequency is nominally 9 MHz. The spatial resolution of the new probe is comparable to production PZT probes, however the sensitivity is reduced by conditions that should be correctable. Simulated opposed-view image registration and Speed of Sound volume reconstruction results for ultrasound in the mammographic geometry are also presented.

Breast ultrasound image improvement by pixel compounding of compression sequence.

Pixel compounding is a technique that synthesizes the information of an image sequence involving slow decorrelation of the speckle to form a detail-recovered and speckle reduced image. To avoid extra data acquisition time and patient exposure, reuse of the existing data is desirable. In the procedure of elasticity imaging, a set of B-mode images with slight changes due to deformation is produced, which provides an ideal input for the pixel compounding. The improvement in image quality is evaluated quantitatively using a figure-of-merit (FOM) that indicates the quality of boundary information recovery and the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) over the phantom images. The increase in average CNR is from 0.4 in the original images to 0.8 in the pixel compounded images. The improvement in average FOM is from 0.15 to more than 0.5 on a scale of 0 to 1. In vivo results with a breast cyst, a fibroadenoma, and a breast cancer1 are also presented and the image quality improvement is subjectively evaluated. The results suggest that B-mode breast images from compression procedures are suitable data for pixel compounding, and that a speckle-reduced and detail-recovered or detail-maintained image can be produced. The improved imaging may provide alternative or better information for detection and diagnosis. A similar approach could be extended to elasticity imaging with other modalities.

Multi-modality 3D breast imaging with X-Ray tomosynthesis and automated ultrasound.

This study evaluated the utility of 3D automated ultrasound in conjunction with 3D digital X-Ray tomosynthesis for breast cancer detection and assessment, to better localize and characterize lesions in the breast. Tomosynthesis image volumes and automated ultrasound image volumes were acquired in the same geometry and in the same view for 27 patients. 3 MQSA certified radiologists independently reviewed the image volumes, visually correlating the images from the two modalities with in-house software. More sophisticated software was used on a smaller set of 10 cases, which enabled the radiologist to draw a 3D box around the suspicious lesion in one image set and isolate an anatomically correlated, similarly boxed region in the other modality image set. In the primary study, correlation was found to be moderately useful to the readers. In the additional study, using improved software, the median usefulness rating increased and confidence in localizing and identifying the suspicious mass increased in more than half the cases. As automated scanning and reading software techniques advance, superior results are expected.

Automated ultrasound scanning on a dual-modality breast imaging system: coverage and motion issues and solutions.

OBJECTIVE: We are developing an automated ultrasound imaging-mammography system wherein a digital mammography unit has been augmented with a motorized ultrasound transducer carriage above a special compression paddle. Challenges of this system are acquiring complete coverage of the breast and minimizing motion. We assessed these problems and investigated methods to increase coverage and stabilize the compressed breast. METHODS: Visual tracings of the breast-to-paddle contact area and breast periphery were made for 10 patients to estimate coverage area. Various motion artifacts were evaluated in 6 patients. Nine materials were tested for coupling the paddle to the breast. Fourteen substances were tested for coupling the transducer to the paddle in lateral-to-medial and medial-to-lateral views and filling the gap between the peripheral breast and paddle. In-house image registration software was used to register adjacent ultrasound sweeps. RESULTS: The average breast contact area was 56%. The average percentage of the peripheral air gap filled with ultrasound gel was 61%. Shallow patient breathing proved equivalent to breath holding, whereas speech and sudden breathing caused unacceptable artifacts. An adhesive spray that preserves image quality was found to be best for coupling the breast to the paddle and minimizing motion. A highly viscous ultrasound gel proved most effective for coupling the transducer to the paddle for lateral-to-medial and medial-to-lateral views and for edge fill-in. CONCLUSIONS: The challenges of automated ultrasound scanning in a multimodality breast imaging system have been addressed by developing methods to fill in peripheral gaps, minimize patient motion, and register and reconstruct multisweep ultrasound image volumes.