title: Novel technology of multimodal ultrasound tomography detects breast lesions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To introduce a new three-dimensional (3D) diagnostic imaging technology, termed "multimodal ultrasonic tomography" (MUT), for the detection of breast cancer without ionising radiation or compression.
  
  
  METHODS
  MUT performs 3D tomography of the pendulant breast in a water-bath using transmission ultrasound in a fixed-coordinate system. Specialised electronic hardware and signal processing algorithms are used to construct multimodal images for each coronal slice, corresponding to measurements of refractivity and frequency-dependent attenuation and dispersion. In-plane pixel size is 0.25 mm × 0.25 mm and the inter-slice interval can vary from 1 to 4 mm, depending on clinical requirements. MUT imaging was performed on 25 patients ("off-label" use for research purposes only), presenting lesions with sizes >10 mm. Histopathology of biopsy samples, obtained from all patients, were used to evaluate the MUT outcomes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All lesions (21 malignant and four benign) were clearly identified on the MUT images and correctly classified into benign and malignant based on their respective multimodal information. Malignant lesions generally exhibited higher values of refractivity and frequency-dependent attenuation and dispersion.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Initial clinical results confirmed the ability of MUT to detect and differentiate all suspicious lesions with sizes >10 mm discernible in mammograms of 25 female patients.
authors.affiliation: Breast Unit, 1st Department of Propaedeutic Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Athens, Greece. gzografo@med.uoa.gr
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zografos
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Koulocheri
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liakou
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sofras
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hadjiagapis
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Orme
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Marmarelis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000465:Algorithms; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013382:Subtraction Technique; D016217:Ultrasonography, Mammary / Q000379:methods*