Ultrasound tomography of breast tissue

Abstract

The Karmanos Cancer Institute is developing an ultrasound device for measuring and imaging acoustic parameters of human tissue. This paper discusses the experimental results relating to tomographic reconstructions of phantoms and tissue. The specimens were scanned by the prototype scanner at a frequency of 1.5 MHz using 2 microsecond pulses. The receivers and transmitters were positioned along a ring trajectory having a diameter of 20 cm. The ring plane is translated in the vertical direction allowing for 3-D reconstructions from stacked 2-D planes of data. All ultrasound scans were performed at 10 millimeter slice thickness to generate multiple tomographic images. In a previous SPIE paper we presented preliminary results of ultrasound tomographic reconstruction of formalin-fixed breast tissue. We now present new results from data acquired with the scanner. Images were constructed using both reflection-based and transmission based algorithms. The resulting images demonstrate the ability to detect sub-mm features and to measure acoustic properties such as sound speed. Comparison with conventional ultrasound indicates the potential for better margin definition and acoustic characterization of tissue.