title: High-frequency ultrasound imaging for breast cancer biopsy guidance.
abstract: Image-guided core needle biopsy is the current gold standard for breast cancer diagnosis. Microcalcifications, an important radiographic finding on mammography suggestive of early breast cancer such as ductal carcinoma in situ, are usually biopsied under stereotactic guidance. This procedure, however, is uncomfortable for patients and requires the use of ionizing radiation. It would be preferable to biopsy microcalcifications under ultrasound guidance since it is a faster procedure, more comfortable for the patient, and requires no radiation. However, microcalcifications cannot reliably be detected with the current standard ultrasound imaging systems. This study is motivated by the clinical need for real-time high-resolution ultrasound imaging of microcalcifications, so that biopsies can be accurately performed under ultrasound guidance. We have investigated how high-frequency ultrasound imaging can enable visualization of microstructures in ex vivo breast tissue biopsy samples. We generated B-mode images of breast tissue and applied the Nakagami filtering technique to help refine image output so that microcalcifications could be better assessed during ultrasound-guided core biopsies. We describe the preliminary clinical results of high-frequency ultrasound imaging of ex vivo breast biopsy tissue with microcalcifications and without Nakagami filtering and the correlation of these images with the pathology examination by hematoxylin and eosin stain and whole slide digital scanning.
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California , Department of Biomedical Engineering, 1042 Downey Way, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cummins
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California , Department of Biomedical Engineering, 1042 Downey Way, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States.
authors.forename: Changhan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.affiliation: Kumoh National Institute of Technology , Department of Medical IT Convergence Engineering, Daehak-ro 61, Gumi, Gyeongbuk 39177, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hojong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California , Department of Biomedical Engineering, 1042 Downey Way, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States.
authors.forename: Payam
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Eliahoo
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California , Department of Biomedical Engineering, 1042 Downey Way, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States.
authors.forename: Hyung Ham
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California , Keck School of Medicine, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Department of Radiology, 1500 San Pablo Street, Los Angeles, California 90033, United States.
authors.forename: Mary W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California , Keck School of Medicine, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Department of Radiology, 1500 San Pablo Street, Los Angeles, California 90033, United States.
authors.forename: Linda J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Hovanessian-Larsen
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California , Keck School of Medicine, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Department of Surgery, 1500 San Pablo Street, Los Angeles, California 90033, United States.
authors.forename: Julie E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California , Keck School of Medicine, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Department of Surgery, 1500 San Pablo Street, Los Angeles, California 90033, United States.
authors.forename: Stephen F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Sener
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California , Keck School of Medicine, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Department of Pathology, 1500 San Pablo Street, Los Angeles, California 90033, United States.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vallone
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California , Keck School of Medicine, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Department of Pathology, 1500 San Pablo Street, Los Angeles, California 90033, United States.
authors.forename: Sue E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California , Department of Biomedical Engineering, 1042 Downey Way, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kirk Shung
keywords: acoustics; image processing; imaging; tissues; transducers; ultrasonics