Keywords:
Tissue characterisation, Diagnostic procedure, Ultrasound, Breast, Soft tissues / Skin, Ultrasound physics
Authors:
S. Sanabria, K. Martini, M. Rominger, K. Dedes, D. Vorburger, T. Frauenfelder, O. Goksel; Zurich/CH
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2018/C-1388
Conclusion
Hand-held speed-of-sound is a promising new ultrasound adjunct technology to differentiate between bening and malignant lesions.
Speed-of-sound (SoS) provides different tissue biomechanical properties (Bulk Modulus) to conventional elastography (Strain,
Shear Modulus).
While all examinated lesions could be correctly classified with a single SoS threshold,
both strain ratios (SR) and shear wave velocity (SWV) failed to differentiate fibroadenoma from carcinoma.
Moreover, hand-held SoS-US showed less dependency on breast compression than SWV,
and is therefore potentially less affected by non-linearity cofounders,
which are problematic in elastography [11]. Therefore,
SoS-US may reduce operator dependency and outperform conventional elastography for solid breast lesion differentiation.
SoS-US can be implemented on a standard ultrasound machine as well as in low-cost portable platforms,
which can be bring cancer assessment to remote areas or developing countries. SoS-US was found significantly more comfortable than mammography and might play an important role for screening of young women.
Further studies are needed to confirm its utility.