title: Strain measurement from 3D micro-CT images of a breast-mimicking phantom.
abstract: Strain distribution in compressed tissues gives information about elasticity of the tissues. We have measured strain from two sets of 3D micro-CT images of a breast-mimicking phantom; one obtained without compressing the phantom and the other with compressing it. To measure strain, we first calculated compression-induced displacements of high-intensity feature patterns in the image. In measuring displacement of a pixel of interest, we searched the pixel in the compressed-phantom image, whose surrounding resembles the uncompressed-phantom image most closely, using the image correlation technique. From the displacement data, we calculated average strain at a region of interest. With the calculated average strains, we could distinguish the hard inclusion in the phantom which was not distinguishable from the background body of the phantom in the ordinary micro-CT images. The calculated strains account for stiffness of the tissue of interest, one of the important parameters for diagnosing malignant tissues. We present experimental results of the displacement and strain measurement along with FEM analysis results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Kyung Hee University, South Korea. sylee01@khu.ac.kr
authors.forename: Soo Yeol
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Gyu Won
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Byung Hee
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Min Hyoung
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Cho
mesh_terms: D001940:Breast / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004548:Elasticity; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008327:Mammography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055114:X-Ray Microtomography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data