Institute of Fundamental Technological Research

Objective: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is widely used in the treatment of breast cancer. However, to date, there are no fully reliable, non-invasive methods for monitoring NAC. In this article, we propose a new method for classifying NAC-responsive and unresponsive tumors using quantitative ultrasound. Methods: The study used ultrasound data collected from breast tumors treated with NAC. The proposed method is based on the hypothesis that areas that characterize the effect of therapy particularly well can be found. For this purpose, parametric images of texture features calculated from tumor images were converted into NAC response probability maps, and areas with a probability above 0.5 were used for classification. Results: The results obtained after the third cycle of NAC show that the classification of tumors using the traditional method (AUC = 0.81 - 0.88) can be significantly improved thanks to the proposed new approach (AUC = 0.84–0.94). This improvement is achieved over a wide range of cutoff values (0.2-0.7), and the probability maps obtained from different quantitative parameters correlate well. Conclusion: The results suggest that there are tumor areas that are particularly well suited to assessing response to NAC. Significance: The proposed approach to monitoring the effects of NAC not only leads to a better classification of responses, but also may contribute to a better understanding of the microstructure of neoplastic tumors observed in an ultrasound examination.

breast cancer,neoadjuvant chemotherapy,quantitative ultrasound,treatment monitoring.

Recently, magneto-ultrasound heating of tissue in the presence of magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) has been studied due to its high potential for use in oncological hyperthermia. It has been published that a synergistic effect, generation of additional heat caused by magneto-ultrasonic coupling, was observed in a tissue-mimicking material (TMM) enriched with magnetic NPs. The specific absorption rate (SAR) was determined from the temperature rise measurements in a focus of the ultrasound beam. It is important to use precise measurement methods when considering medical applications, for which there are limitations to the power of each field, resulting from the prevention of biological phenomena dangerous to the patient. This study demonstrates that in magneto-ultrasonic heating SAR can be measured much more accurately if the ultrasonic field is almost uniform. Measurements were performed on TMM containing Fe3O4 NPs with a diameter of approximately 8 nm and superparamagnetic properties. Both, the measurement and simulation results showed that the errors resulting from the inaccuracy of placing the temperature probe are smaller than in the case of the focused ultrasound. At the same time, the temperature increase caused by the ultrasonic field is almost linear and the influence of heat convection on the SAR determination is negligible. The measurements showed that magneto-ultrasonic hyperthermia can provide the desired thermal effect at lower ultrasound powers and magnetic fields compared to ultrasonic or magnetic hyperthermia used alone. No synergy effect was recorded.

Magnetic nanoparticle-mediated hyperthermia,Dual-mode ultrasonic-magnetic hyperthermia,Specific absorption rate,Hyperthermia efficiency

Objective: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in breast cancer requires non-invasive methods of monitoring its effects after each dose of drug therapy. The aim is to isolate responding and non-responding tumors prior to surgery in order to increase patient safety and select the optimal medical follow-up. Methods: A new method of monitoring NAC therapy has been proposed. The method is based on image quality indexes (IQI) calculated from ultrasound data obtained from breast tumors and surrounding tissue. Four different tissue regions from the preliminary set of 38 tumors and three data pre-processing techniques are considered. Postoperative histopathology results were used as a benchmark in evaluating the effectiveness of the IQI classification. Results: Out of ten parameters considered, the best results were obtained for the Gray Relational Coefficient. Responding and non-responding tumors were predicted after the first dose of NAC with an area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.88 and 0.75, respectively. When considering subsequent doses of NAC, other IQI parameters also proved usefulness in evaluating NAC therapy. Conclusions: The image quality parameters derived from the ultrasound data are well suited for assessing the effects of NAC therapy, in particular on breast tumors.

Quantitative ultrasound; Image quality; Neoadjuvant chemotherapy; Breast cancer; Treatment response

In this paper, we propose a novel deep learning method for joint classification and segmentation of breast masses based on radio-frequency (RF) ultrasound (US) data. In comparison to commonly used classification and segmentation techniques, utilizing B-mode US images, we train the network with RF data (data before envelope detection and dynamic compression), which are considered to include more information on tissue’s physical properties than standard B-mode US images. Our multi-task network, based on the Y-Net architecture, can effectively process large matrices of RF data by mixing 1D and 2D convolutional filters. We use data collected from 273 breast masses to compare the performance of networks trained with RF data and US images. The multi-task model developed based on the RF data achieved good classification performance, with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.90. The network based on the US images achieved AUC of 0.87. In the case of the segmentation, we obtained mean Dice scores of 0.64 and 0.60 for the approaches utilizing US images and RF data, respectively. Moreover, the interpretability of the networks was studied using class activation mapping technique and by filter weights visualizations.

breast mass classification, breast mass segmentation, convolutional neural networks, deep learning, quantitative ultrasound, ultrasound imagin

Purpose: Neo-adjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is used in breast cancer before tumor surgery to reduce the size of the tumor and the risk of spreading. Monitoring the effects of NAC is important because in a number of cases the response to therapy is poor and requires a change in treatment. A new method that uses quantitative ultrasound to assess tumor response to NAC has been presented. The aim was to detect NAC unresponsive tumors at an early stage of treatment. Methods: The method assumes that ultrasound scattering is different for responsive and nonresponsive tumors. The assessment of the NAC effects was based on the differences between the histograms of the ultrasound echo amplitude recorded from the tumor after each NAC dose and from the tissue phantom, estimated using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov statistics (KSS) and the symmetrical Kullback–Leibler divergence (KLD). After therapy, tumors were resected and histopathologically evaluated. The percentage of residual malignant cells was determined and was the basis for assessing the tumor response. The data set included ultrasound data obtained from 37 tumors. The performance of the methods was assessed by means of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Results: For responding tumors, a decrease in the mean KLD and KSS values was observed after subsequent doses of NAC. In nonresponding tumors, the KLD was higher and did not change in subsequent NAC courses. Classification based on the KSS or KLD parameters allowed to detect tumors not respond- ing to NAC after the first dose of the drug, with AUC equal 0.83±0.06 and 0.84±0.07, respectively. After the third dose, the AUC increased to 0.90±0.05 and 0.91±0.04, respectively. Conclusions: The results indicate the potential usefulness of the proposed parameters in assessing the effectiveness of the NAC and early detection of nonresponding cases.

breast cancer, neoadjuvant therapy assessment, quantitative ultrasound

Objective. Prediction of the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in breast cancer is important for patient outcomes. In this work, we propose a deep learning based approach to NAC response prediction in ultrasound (US) imaging. Approach. We develop recurrent neural networks that can process serial US imaging data to predict chemotherapy outcomes. We present models that can process either raw radio-frequency (RF) US data or regular US images. The proposed approach is evaluated based on 204 sequences of US data from 51 breast cancers. Each sequence included US data collected before the chemotherapy and after each subsequent dose, up to the 4th course. We investigate three pre-trained convolutional neural networks (CNNs) as back-bone feature extractors for the recurrent network. The CNNs were pre-trained using raw US RF data, US b-mode images and RGB images from the ImageNet dataset. The first two networks were developed using US data collected from malignant and benign breast masses. Main results. For the pre-treatment data, the better performing network, with back-bone CNN pre-trained on US images, achieved area under the receiver operating curve (AUC) of 0.81 (±0.04). Performance of the recurrent networks improved with each course of the chemotherapy. For the 4th course, the better performing model, based on the CNN pre-trained with RGB images, achieved AUC value of 0.93 (±0.03). Statistical analysis based on the DeLong test presented that there were no significant differences in AUC values between the pre-trained networks at each stage of the chemotherapy (p-values > 0.05). Significance. Our study demonstrates the feasibility of using recurrent neural networks for the NAC response prediction in breast cancer US.

breast cancer, deep learning, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, reccurent neural networks, ultrasound imaging

Aim of the study: Deep neural networks have achieved good performance in breast mass classification in ultrasound imaging. However, their usage in clinical practice is still lim¬ited due to the lack of explainability of decisions conducted by the networks. In this study, to address the explainability problem, we generated saliency maps indicating ultrasound image regions important for the network’s classification decisions. Material and methods: Ultrasound images were collected from 272 breast masses, including 123 malignant and 149 benign. Transfer learning was applied to develop a deep network for breast mass clas¬sification. Next, the class activation mapping technique was used to generate saliency maps for each image. Breast mass images were divided into three regions: the breast mass region, the peritumoral region surrounding the breast mass, and the region below the breast mass. The pointing game metric was used to quantitatively assess the overlap between the saliency maps and the three selected US image regions. Results: Deep learning classifier achieved the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, accuracy, sensitivity, and specific¬ity of 0.887, 0.835, 0.801, and 0.868, respectively. In the case of the correctly classified test US images, analysis of the saliency maps revealed that the decisions of the network could be associated with the three selected regions in 71% of cases. Conclusions: Our study is an important step toward better understanding of deep learning models developed for breast mass diagnosis. We demonstrated that the decisions made by the network can be related to the appearance of certain tissue regions in breast mass US images.

deep learning, breast mass diagnosis, attention maps, explainability

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is increasingly becoming the first treatment step in breast cancer. Despite the enormous advantages of this therapy, it is a method characterized by a high level of toxicity and thus carries a huge burden for the patient. Therefore, it is highly desirable to begin monitoring the patient’s response to treatment at an earlier stage. Currently, apart from traditional imaging methods, a completely new technique (in the context of monitoring the outcomes of chemotherapy), called quantitative ultrasound, is gaining popularity. It is a method based on the exact same ultrasound echoes as in traditional ultrasound imaging. The innovative approach of the method is that these echoes are not used for visualization but to characterize the condition of the tissue by parameterizing it with the aid of ultrasound biomarkers. The biomarkers make it possible to assess the state of the tissue at the microscopic level, and thus evaluate changes occurring in the tissue under the influence of treatment at a very early treatment stage. The present paper aims to familiarize the reader with the physical foundations of this method as well as present the latest results of related research.

quantitative ultrasound; breast cancer; neoadjuvant chemotherapy

To investigate the performance of multiparametric ultrasound for the evaluation of treatment response in breast cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). The IRB approved this prospective study. Breast cancer patients who were scheduled to undergo NAC were invited to participate in this study. Changes in tumour echogenicity, stiffness, maximum diameter, vascularity and integrated backscatter coefficient (IBC) were assessed prior to treatment and 7 days after four consecutive NAC cycles. Residual malignant cell (RMC) measurement at surgery was considered as standard of reference. RMC < 30% was considered a good response and > 70% a poor response. The correlation coefficients of these parameters were compared with RMC from post-operative histology. Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), cross-validation and Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (ROC) analysis were performed. Thirty patients (mean age 56.4 year) with 42 lesions were included. There was a significant correlation between RMC and echogenicity and tumour diameter after the 3rd course of NAC and average stiffness after the 2nd course. The correlation coefficient for IBC and echogenicity calculated after the first four doses of NAC were 0.27, 0.35, 0.41 and 0.30, respectively. Multivariate analysis of the echogenicity and stiffness after the third NAC revealed a sensitivity of 82%, specificity of 90%, PPV = 75%, NPV = 93%, accuracy = 88% and AUC of 0.88 for non-responding tumours (RMC > 70%). High tumour stiffness and persistent hypoechogenicity after the third NAC course allowed to accurately predict a group of non-responding tumours. A correlation between echogenicity and IBC was demonstrated as well.

Echocardiographic assessment of systolic and diastolic function of the heart is often limited by image quality. However, the aortic root is well visualized in most patients. We hypothesize that the aortic root motion may correlate with the systolic and diastolic function of the left ventricle of the heart. Data obtained from 101 healthy volunteers (mean age 46.6 ± 12.4) was used in the study. The data contained sequences of standard two-dimensional (2D) echocardiographic B-mode (brightness mode, classical ultrasound grayscale presentation) images corresponding to single cardiac cycles. They also included sets of standard echocardiographic Doppler parameters of the left ventricular systolic and diastolic function. For each B-mode image sequence, the aortic root was tracked with use of a correlation tracking algorithm and systolic and diastolic values of traveled distances and velocities were determined. The aortic root motion parameters were correlated with the standard Doppler parameters used for the assessment of LV function. The aortic root diastolic distance (ARDD) mean value was 1.66 ± 0.26 cm and showed significant, moderate correlation (r up to 0.59, p < 0.0001) with selected left ventricular diastolic Doppler parameters. The aortic root maximal diastolic velocity (ARDV) was 10.8 ± 2.4 cm/s and also correlated (r up to 0.51, p < 0.0001) with some left ventricular diastolic Doppler parameters. The aortic root systolic distance (ARSD) was 1.63 ± 0.19 cm and showed no significant moderate correlation (all r values < 0.40). The aortic root maximal systolic velocity (ARSV) was 9.2 ± 1.6 cm/s and correlated in moderate range only with peak systolic velocity of medial mitral annulus (r = 0.44, p < 0.0001). Based on these results, we conclude, that in healthy subjects, aortic root motion parameters correlate significantly with established measurements of left ventricular function. Aortic root motion parameters can be especially useful in patients with low ultrasound image quality precluding usage of typical LV function parameters.

Early prediction of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in breast cancer is crucial for guiding therapy decisions. In this work, we propose a deep learning based approach for the early NAC response prediction in ultrasound (US) imaging. We used transfer learning with deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to develop the response prediction models. The usefulness of two transfer learning techniques was examined. First, a CNN pre-trained on the ImageNet dataset was utilized. Second, we applied double transfer learning, the CNN pre-trained on the ImageNet dataset was additionally fine-tuned with breast mass US images to differentiate malignant and benign lesions. Two prediction tasks were investigated. First, a L1 regularized logistic regression prediction model was developed based on generic neural features extracted from US images collected before the chemotherapy (a priori prediction). Second, Siamese CNNs were used to quantify differences between US images collected before the treatment and after the first and second course of NAC. The proposed methods were evaluated using US data collected from 39 tumors. The better performing deep learning models achieved areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.797 and 0.847 in the case of the a priori prediction and the Siamese model, respectively. The proposed approach was compared with a
method based on handcrafted morphological features. Our study presents the feasibility of using transfer learning with CNNs for the NAC response prediction in US imaging.

breast cancer, deep learning, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, Siamese convolutional neural networks, ultrasound imaging

The aim of the study was to improve monitoring the treatment response in breast cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). The IRB approved this prospective study. Ultrasound examinations were performed prior to treatment and 7 days after four consecutive NAC cycles. Residual malignant cell (RMC) measurement at surgery was the standard of reference. Alteration in B-mode ultrasound (tumor echogenicity and volume) and the Kullback-Leibler divergence (kld), as a quantitative measure of amplitude difference, were used. Correlations of these parameters with RMC were assessed and Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (ROC) analysis was performed. Thirty-nine patients (mean age 57 y.) with 50 tumors were included. There was a significant correlation between RMC and changes in quantitative parameters (KLD) after the second, third and fourth course of NAC, and alteration in echogenicity after the third and fourth course. Multivariate analysis of the echogenicity and KLD after the third NAC course revealed a sensitivity of 91%, specificity of 92%, PPV = 77%, NPV = 97%, accuracy = 91%, and AUC of 0.92 for non-responding tumors (RMC ≥ 70%). In conclusion, monitoring the echogenicity and KLD parameters made it possible to accurately predict the treatment response from the second course of NAC.

quantitative ultrasound, B-mode ultrasound, echogenicity, breast cancer, neoadjuvant chemotherapy

We studied sonochemical reactions resulting from ultrasonic treatment of potassium hexacyanoferrate(II) in aqueous solutions using a custom-built apparatus working at 536 kHz. We concluded that primary reactions are completely dominated by oxidation of Fe(II) to Fe(III) and did not find any evidences for degradation of cyanide. At the highest concentration used in the present study (0.1 M) we detected formation of pentacyanoaquaferrate(II) complex, which is most probably formed in reactions between hexacyanoferrate(III) anions and hydrogen atoms or hydrated electrons formed in sonochemical processes. We also determined that hydroxyl radicals formation rate in our system, (8.7 ± 1.5)∙10^-8 M∙s^-1, is relatively high compared to other reported experiments. We attribute this to focusing of the ultrasonic wave in the sample vessel. Finally, we suggest that oxidation rate of hexacyanoferrate(II) anions can be a convenient benchmark of efficiency of sonochemical reactors.

sonochemistry,sonooxidation,sonoreactor,advanced oxidation processes,waste-water treatment

Accurate evaluation of ultrasonic wave attenuation is important in many medical applications of ultrasound. The aim of this work is to present a thorough analysis of the effectiveness of using complementary Golay coded sequences (CGCS) during the evaluation of ultrasound attenuation in tissue-like materials, especially at greater depths or at high attenuation. In order to compare the results of the attenuation measurement with the use of CGCS transmission and a short two sine cycles pulse, ultrasound backscattered from medium with predefined attenuation of 0.3, 0.7 and 2 dB/[MHz×cm] were simulated. Also for the same transmission signals, measurements of ultrasound echoes scattered in the tissue phantom with an attenuation of 0.5 dB/[MHz×cm] were performed. In the case of numerically simulated data, for the CGCS excitation, the maximum depth for which the attenuation was correctly determined increased from 55 mm to 80 mm for the 0.7 dB/[MHz×cm] phantom and from 20 mm to 50 mm for the 2 dB/[MHz×cm] phantom compared to excitation of the transducer with a short two sine cycles pulse. When the measurement data obtained using the tissue phantom was used to estimate the attenuation coefficient, the relative error was determined to be 6% and 16% for the depths of 10 mm and 40 mm for the short two sine cycles pulse excitation, respectively. Corresponding values for CGCS excitation and considered depths were 2% and 4%. The use of CGSC sequence during attenuation measurements increases measurement accuracy and can improve medical diagnostic techniques.

attenuation, coded excitation, Golay sequences, ultrasound imaging

The presented studies evaluate for the first time the efficiency of tumour classification based on the quantitative analysis of ultrasound data originating from the tissue surrounding the tumour. 116 patients took part in the study after qualifying for biopsy due to suspicious breast changes. The RF signals collected from the tumour and tumour-surroundings were processed to determine quantitative measures consisting of Nakagami distribution shape parameter, entropy, and texture parameters. The utility of parameters for the classification of benign and malignant lesions was assessed in relation to the results of histopathology. The best multi-parametric classifier reached an AUC of 0.92 and of 0.83 for outer and intra-tumour data, respectively. A classifier composed of two types of parameters, parameters based on signals scattered in the tumour and in the surrounding tissue, allowed the classification of breast changes with sensitivity of 93%, specificity of 88%, and AUC of 0.94. Among the 4095 multi-parameter classifiers tested, only in eight cases the result of classification based on data from the surrounding tumour tissue was worse than when using tumour data. The presented results indicate the high usefulness of QUS analysis of echoes from the tissue surrounding the tumour in the classification of breast lesions.

The purpose of this work was to present a new approach that allows the influence of cortical bone on noninvasive measurement of broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) to be corrected. The method, mplemented here at 1 MHz makes use of backscattered signal and once refined and clinically confirmed, it would offer an alternative to ionizing radiation based methods, such as DEXA (Dual-nergy X-ray absorptiometry), quantitative computed tomography (QCT), radiographic absorptiometry (RA) or single X-ray absorptiometry (SXA), which are clinically approved for assessment of progress of osteoporosis. In addition, as the method employs reflected waves, it might substantially enhance the applicability of BUA - from being suitable to peripheral bones only it would extend this applicability to include such embedded bones as hip and femoral neck. The proposed approach allows the cortical layer parameters used for correction and the corrected value and parameter of the ancellous bone (BUA) to be determined simultaneously from the single (pulse-echo) bone backscattered wave; to the best of the authors' knowledge such approach was not previously reported. The validity of the method was tested using acoustic data obtained from a custom- esigned bone-mimicking phantom and a calf femur. The relative error of the attenuation coefficient assessment was determined to be 3.9% and 4.7% for the bone phantom and calf bone specimens, respectively. When the cortical shell influence was not taken into account the corresponding errors were considerably higher 8.3% (artificial bone) and 9.2% (calf femur). As indicated above, once clinically proven, the use of this BUA measurement technique in reflection mode would augment diagnostic power of the attending physician by permitting to include bones, which are not accessible for transmission mode evaluation, e.g. hip, spine, humerus and femoral neck.

broadband ultrasound attenuation, correction of influence of cortical bone, trabecular bone

Background: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is used in patients with breast cancer to reduce tumor focus, metastatic risk, and patient mortality. Monitoring NAC effects is necessary to capture resistant patients and stop or change treatment. The existing methods for evaluating NAC results have some limitations. The aim of this study was to assess the tumor response at an early stage, after the first doses of the NAC, based on the variability of the backscattered ultrasound energy, and backscatter statistics. The backscatter statistics has not previously been used to monitor NAC effects. Methods: The B-mode ultrasound images and raw radio frequency data from breast tumors were obtained using an ultrasound scanner before chemotherapy and 1 week after each NAC cycle. The study included twenty-four malignant breast cancers diagnosed in sixteen patients and qualified for neoadjuvant treatment before surgery. The shape parameter of the homodyned K distribution and integrated backscatter, along with the tumor size in the longest dimension, were determined based on ultrasound data and used as markers for NAC response. Cancer tumors were assigned to responding and non-responding groups, according to histopathological evaluation, which was a reference in assessing the utility of markers. Statistical analysis was performed to rate the ability of markers to predict the final NAC response based on data obtained after subsequent therapeutic doses. Results: Statistically significant differences (p<0.05) between groups were obtained after 2, 3, 4, and 5 doses of NAC for quantitative ultrasound markers and after 5 doses for the assessment based on maximum tumor dimension. Statistical analysis showed that, after the second and third NAC courses the classification based on integrated backscatter marker was characterized by an AUC of 0.69 and 0.82, respectively. The introduction of the second quantitative marker describing the statistical properties of scattering increased the corresponding AUC values to 0.82 and 0.91. Conclusions: Quantitative ultrasound information can characterize the tumor's pathological response better and at an earlier stage of therapy than the assessment of the reduction of its dimensions. The introduction of statistical parameters of ultrasonic backscatter to monitor the effects of chemotherapy can increase the effectiveness of monitoring and contribute to a better personalization of NAC therapy.

Purpose: Nowadays, the improvement of ultrasonic hyperthermia therapy is often achieved by adding hard particles to the sonicated medium in order to increase the heating efficiency. The explanation of the phenomenon of ultrasonic heating still requires testing on tissue mimicking materials (TMMs), enriched with particles of different sizes and physical properties. Our goal was to determine, by comparing their quantitative acoustic properties, which TMMs, with magnetic micro- or nanoparticles, convert more ultrasonic energy into heat or which of the particles embedded in the agar gel act as more effective thermal sonosensitizers. Methods: We manufactured a pure agar gel and an agar gel with the addition of magnetic micro- or nanoparticles in two proportions of 8 and 16 mg/ml. Ultrasound quantitative techniques, the broadband reflection substitution technique and backscattered spectrum analysis were used to characterize the samples by speed of sound (SOS), frequency-dependent attenuation, and backscattering coefficients. The integrated backscattering coefficients were also calculated. The quantitative parameters, scattering, and attenuation coefficients of ultrasound in phantoms with micro- and nanoparticles were estimated. Based on the attenuation and scattering of ultrasound in the samples, the ultrasonic energy absorption, which determines the heating efficiency, was evaluated. Additionally, the temperature increase during sonication of the phantoms by an ultrasonic beam was directly measured using thermocouples. Results: The density of the materials with nanoparticles was higher than for the materials with microparticles with the same fractions of particles. The SOS for all materials ranged from 1489 to 1499 m/s. The attenuation in the whole frequency range (3–8 MHz) was higher for the materials with nanoparticles than for the materials with microparticles. For the materials with the lower content (8 mg/ml) of particles, the attenuation coefficient was 0.2 dB/(MHz cm). For the 16 mg/ml concentration of nanoparticles and microparticles, the attenuation coefficients were 0.66 and 0.45 dB/(MHz cm), resectively. The value of backscattering coefficient in the whole frequency range was greater for the materials with microparticles than for the materials with nanoparticles. The values of the integrated backscattering coefficient were 0.05 and 0.08 1/m for the materials with nanoparticles and 0.46 and 0.82 1/m for the materials with microparticles and concentrations of 8 and 16 mg/ml, respectively. The rates of temperature increase in the first 3 s due to ultrasonic heating were higher for the materials with nanoparticles than for the materials with microparticles. Conclusions: Based on acoustical measurements, we confirmed that all materials can be used as tissue phantoms in the study of ultrasonic hyperthermia, as their properties were in the range of soft tissue properties. We found that the nanoparticle-doped materials had greater attenuation and smaller scattering of ultrasound than the materials with microparticles, so absorption in these materials is greater. Thus, the TMMs with nanoparticles convert more acoustic energy into heat and we conclude that magnetic nanoparticles are more effective thermal sonosensitizers than microparticles. This conclusion is confirmed by direct measurement of the temperature increase in the samples subjected to sonification.

backscattering coefficient, frequency-dependent attenuation, hyperthermia TMM, magnetic particles, ultrasound absorption

Purpose: To evaluate the ultrasound (US) response in patients with breast cancer (BC) during neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Methods: Prospective US analysis was performed on 19 malignant tumors prior to NAC treatment and 7 days after each first four courses of NAC in 13 patients (median age=57years). Echogenicity, size, vascularity, and sonoelastography were measured and compared with posttreatment scores of residual cancers burden. Results: Changes in the echogenicity of tumors after 3 courses of NAC had the most statistically strong correlation with the percentage of residual malignant cells used in histopathology to assess the response to treatment (odds ratio=60, p < 0.05). Changes in lesion size and elasticity were also significant (p < 0.05). Conclusions: There is a statistically significant relationship between breast tumors' echogenicity in US, neoplasm size, and stiffness and the response to NAC. In particular, our results show that the change in tumor echogenicity could predict a pathological response with satisfactory accuracy and may be considered in NAC monitoring.

breast ultrasonography, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, clinical response, breast cancer, sonoelastography

Objective: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy was initially used in locally advanced breast cancer, and currently it is recommended for patients with Stage 3 and with early-stage disease with human epidermal growth factor receptors positive or triple-negative breast cancer. Ultrasound imaging in combination with a quantitative ultrasound method is a novel diagnostic approach. Aim of study: The aim of this study was to analyze the variability of the integrated backscatter coefficient, and to evaluate their use to predict the effectiveness of treatment and compare to ultrasound examination results. Material and method: Ten patients (mean age 52.9) with 13 breast tumors (mean dimension 41 mm) were selected for neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Ultrasound was performed before the treatment and one week after each course of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The dimensions were assessed adopting the RECIST criteria. Tissue responses were classified as pathological response into the following categories: not responded to the treatment (G1, cell reduction by ≤9%) and responded to the treatment partially: G2, G3, G4, cell reduction by 10–29% (G2), 30–90% (G3), >90% (G4), respectively, and completely. Results: In B-mode examination partial response was observed in 9/13 cases (completely, G1, G3, G4), and stable disease was demonstrated in 3/13 cases (completely, G1, G4). Complete response was found in 1/13 cases. As for backscatter coefficient, 10/13 tumors (completely, and G2, G3, and G4) were characterized by an increased mean value of 153%. Three tumors 3/13 (G1) displayed a decreased mean value of 31%. Conclusion: The variability of backscatter coefficient, could be associated with alterations in the structure of the tumor tissue during neoadjuvant chemotherapy. There were unequivocal differences between responded and non-responded patients. The backscatter coefficient analysis correlated better with the results of histopathological verification than with the B-mode RECIST criteria.

integrated backscatter coefficient (IBSCs), neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), breast cancer, ultrasound

Attenuation of ultrasound in tissue can be estimated from the propagating pulse center frequency downshift. This method assumes that the envelope of the emitted pulse can be approximated by a Gaussian function and that the attenuation linearly depends on frequency. The resulting downshift of the mean frequency depends not only on attenuation but also on pulse bandwidth and propagation distance. This kind of approach is valid for narrowband pulses and shallow penetration depth. However, for short pulses and deep penetration, the frequency downshift is rather large and the received spectra are modified by the limited bandwidth of the receiving system. In this paper, the modified formula modeling the mean frequency of backscattered echoes is presented. The equation takes into account the limitation of the bandwidth due to bandpass filtration of the received echoes. This approach was applied to simulate the variation of the mean frequency of the pulse propagating for both weakly and strongly attenuating media and for narrowband and wideband pulses. The behavior of both the standard and modified estimates of attenuation has been validated using RF data from a tissue-mimicking phantom. The ultrasound attenuation of the phantom, determined with a corrected equation, was close to its true value, while the result obtained using the original formula was lower by as much as 50% at a depth of 8 cm.

Tissue attenuation, frequency downshift, bandwidth limitation

In therapeutic applications of High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) the guidance of the HIFU beam and especially its focal plane is of crucial importance. This guidance is needed to appropriately target the focal plane and hence the whole focal volume inside the tumor tissue prior to thermo-ablative treatment and beginning of tissue necrosis. This is currently done using Magnetic Resonance Imaging that is relatively expensive. In this study an ultrasound method, which calculates the variations of speed of sound in the locally heated tissue volume by analyzing the phase shifts of echo-signals received by an ultrasound scanner from this very volume is presented. To improve spatial resolution of B-mode imaging and minimize the uncertainty of temperature estimation the acoustic signals were transmitted and received by 8 MHz linear phased array employing Synthetic Transmit Aperture (STA) technique. Initially, the validity of the algorithm developed was verified experimentally in a tissue-mimicking phantom heated from 20.6 to 48.6°C. Subsequently, the method was tested using a pork loin sample heated locally by a 2 MHz pulsed HIFU beam with focal intensity ISATA of 129 W/cm2. The temperature calibration of 2D maps of changes in the sound velocity induced by heating was performed by comparison of the algorithm-determined changes in the sound velocity with the temperatures measured by thermocouples located in the heated tissue volume. The method developed enabled ultrasound temperature imaging of the heated tissue volume from the very inception of heating with the contrast-to-noise ratio of 3.5–12 dB in the temperature range 21–56°C. Concurrently performed, conventional B-mode imaging revealed CNR close to zero dB until the temperature reached 50°C causing necrosis. The data presented suggest that the proposed method could offer an alternative to MRI-guided temperature imaging for prediction of the location and extent of the thermal lesion prior to applying the final HIFU treatment.

Ultrasonic temperature imaging, HIFU, Echo phase shift, Velocity image contrast

The paper presents a method that allows the thickness of a compact bone layer and longitudinal wave velocity in the bone to be determined simultaneously with the use of reflected waves, with particular emphasis on the case of layers when the propagation time through the layer is shorter than the time duration of the interrogating pulse.

The proposed method estimates simultaneously the thickness of the cortical bone layer and acoustic wave velocity by fitting the temporal spectrum of the simulated reflected wave to the spectrum of the reflected wave measured experimentally. For the purpose of echo-simulations the model of “soft tissue – compact bone layer – cancellous bone” was developed. Next, the cost function was defined as the least square error between the measured and simulated temporal spectra. Minimization of the cost function allowed us to determine the values of the parameters of the cortical bone layer which best fitted the measurements. To solve the optimization problem a simulated annealing algorithm was used.

The method was tested using acoustic data obtained at the frequency of 0.6 MHz and 1 MHz respectively for a custom designed bone mimicking phantom and a calf femur. For the cortical shell of the calf femur whose thickness varies from 2.1 mm to 2.4 mm and velocity of 2910 m/s, the relative errors of the thickness estimation ranged from 0.4% to 5.5%. The corresponding error of the acoustic wave velocity estimation in the layer was 3.1%. In the case of artificial bone the thickness of the cortical layer was equal to 1.05 and 1.2 mm and acoustic wave velocity was 2900 m/s. These parameters were determined with the errors ranging from 1.9% to 10.8% and from 3.9% to 4.5% respectively.

Bone quantitative ultrasound, Human cortical bone, Human cancellous bone, Ultrasound attenuation, Layered media

Therapeutic and surgical applications of High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) require monitoring of local temperature rises induced inside tissues. It is needed to appropriately target the focal plane, and hence the whole focal volume inside the tumor tissue, prior to thermo-ablative treatment, and the beginning of tissue necrosis. In this study we present an ultrasound method, which calculates the variations of the speed of sound in the locally heated tissue. Changes in velocity correspond to temperature change. The method calculates a 2D distribution of changes in the sound velocity, by estimation of the local phase shifts of RF echo-signals backscattered from the heated tissue volume (the focal volume of the HIFU beam), and received by an ultrasound scanner (23). The technique enabled temperature imaging of the heated tissue volume from the very inception of heating. The results indicated that the contrast sensitivity for imaging of relative changes in the sound speed was on the order of 0.06%; corresponding to an increase in the tissue temperature by about 2 °C.

HIFU, echo phase shift, parametric imaging, velocity/brightness CNR

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of statistical properties of the backscttered ultrasound in differential diagnosis of the breast lesions. The B-mode images together with the appropriate RF echoes from the breast lesions and surrounding tissues were collected. The RF data were processed for the statistics of the backscattered echo signals using K and Nakagami distributions characterized by the M and m parameters, respectively. Based on both, M and m parameters, a set of 18 parameters was derived.

From the point of view of the sensitivity of detection of the cancer the best score was obtained using maximum value of M parameter, the best specificity was received using the differential Nakagami parameter (the differential values between lesions and surrounding tissues). In conclusion the quantitative sonography is a method which has potential to be a complementary tool for classification of the breast lesions.

quantitative ultrasound, breast cancer, Nakagami distribution, K dstribution

A 30-MHz ultrasonic scanner was used to collect B-scan images together with appropriate radiofrequency echoes from diseased and healthy skin regions of patients with diagnosed basal cell carcinoma and pre-cancerous lesions (actinic keratosis). Radiofrequency data were processed to obtain the attenuation coefficient and statistics of the backscattered echo signal determination (K-distribution and effective density of scatterers [EDS]). The attenuation coefficient was significantly higher for patients with basal cell carcinoma than for healthy patients. Also, the pre-cancerous skin lesions had increased attenuation. The averaged EDS values for cancer lesions were significantly lower than those for pre-cancerous lesions and healthy skin. The successful differentiation between the tissue groups examined suggests the potential value of the attenuation coefficient and EDS for carcinoma characterization.

Quantitative ultrasound, High frequency, Human skin, Skin lesions, K-distribution, Attenuation coefficient, Tissue characterization

Aim.
The aim of our study was to assess the usefulness of high frequency ultrasonography in the diagnosis of melanoma. Methods. We examined 84 patients with suspicious melanocytic skin lesions, including 19 cases of melanoma. In vivo high-resolution ultrasonography (30 MHz) was performed prior to excision.

Results.
In ultrasound scans early melanomas presented as flat oval or fusiform shaped structures and were clearly demarcated, while advanced melanomas were characterized by a roundish shape with less distinct borders. The ultrasonographic thickness of in situ melanomas ranged from 0.02 to 0.85 mm. In the case of invasive tumors, the mean thickness evaluated by high frequency ultrasonography was 10.7% higher compared to the Breslow Score (1.44±0.8 mm and 1.3±0.88 mm, respectively). In all melanomas of Breslow Score of 1 mm or more ultrasound also indicated a Breslow Score of 1 mm or more.

Conclusion.
High frequency ultrasound examination has limited value in differential diagnosis of melanoma, but it gives a clear picture of the size and depth of the tumor. The method should be used as a complementary method (after dermoscopy and, where applicable, reflectance confocal microscopy) in preoperative evaluation of the tumor. In some cases of locally advanced melanoma, ultrasound examination may allow to reduce the number of surgical procedures and favor the decision of a one-time surgical treatment (removal of primary tumor and sentinel lymph node biopsy at the same time).

Dermoscopy - Diagnosis - Melanoma - Microscopy, confocal - Ultrasonography

The comparison between theoretical and numerical solutions of the reflection/transmission problem for the acoustic plane wave normally incident on the discontinuity surface between two nonlinear lossy media was presented. Numerical calculations made under the assumption that the two media have the same impedance, allow to single out the effect of nonlinearities in the description of the reflection and transmission phenomena, so they agreed with theoretical predictions. It was shown that theoretically obtained and numerically calculated results mutually confirmed themselves

Nonliear reflection, transmission, Riccati equation

The aim of this work is to present preliminary results of the layer thickness assessment method based on optimization approach. The developed method is based on a multilayer model structure. The measured acoustic signal reflected from the layer is compared with a simulated signal on the basis of a multilayer model. The cost function is defined as the difference between the reflected signal measured using pulse echo approach and the simulated signal. The thickness of the solid layer is the parameter which minimizes the cost function yielding desired solution. Minimization of the cost function is performed with the simulated annealing algorithm. The results obtained with the developed method using measurement data of a custom design model are compared with the reference value and the accuracy of the method is checked. The relative error of the thickness estimation is 1.44 %.

Bone quantitative ultrasound, Human cortical bone, Human cancellous bone, Ultrasound attenuation, Layered media

Therapeutic and surgical applications of focused ultrasound require monitoring of local temperature rises induced inside tissues. From an economic and practical point of view ultrasonic imaging techniques seem to be the most suitable for the temperature control. This paper presents an implementation of the ultrasonic echoes displacement estimation technique for monitoring of local temperature rise in tissue during its heating by focused ultrasound The results of the estimation were compared to the temperature measured with thermocouple. The obtained results enable to evaluate the temperature fields induced in tissues by pulsed focused ultrasonic beams using non-invasive imaging ultrasound technique

HIFU, therapeutic ultrasound, ultrasonic imaging, echo strain estimation

The soft tissue attenuation is an interesting parameter from medical point of view, because the value of attenuation coefficient is often related to the state of the tissue. Thus, the imaging of the attenuation coefficient distribution within the tissue could be a useful tool for ultrasonic medical diagnosis. The method of attenuation estimation based on tracking of the mean frequency changes in a backscattered signal is presented in this paper. The attenuation estimates are characterized by high variance due to stochastic character of the backscattered ultrasonic signal and some special methods must be added to data processing to improve the resulting images. The following paper presents the application of Spatial Compounding (SC), Frequency Compounding (FC) and the combination of both. The resulting parametric images are compared by means of root-mean-square errors. The results show that combined SC and FC techniques significantly improve the quality and accuracy of parametric images of attenuation distribution.

tissue attenuation estimation, parametric imaging, synthetic aperture, spatial compounding, frequency compounding

Assessment of cortical bone thickness is important from a medical point of view because bone-layer thickness has a diagnostic value. The thinning of the cortical bone layer reduces the mechanical strength of the bone and exposes it to an increased risk of osteoporotic fractures [1]. The hip bone (proximal femur) is the most critical fracture site. The thickness of the cortical layer in the proximal femur is often too thin to be detected from ultrasonic echoes using traditional peak detection methods (for example the envelope method). In such a case the cepstrum analysis technique may be very useful. In this study the cepstrum method was applied to analyze numerically simulated echoes reflected from the layer and to determine layer thickness. In simulation, the transducer operated at 1 MHz and pulses of a 1.5 microsec. duration were assumed.

cortical bone, thickness, cepstrum analysis

Nowadays there are new modalities in ultrasound imaging allowing better characterization of tissue regions with different stiffness. We are proposing a novel approach based on compression and rarefaction of tissue simultaneously with imaging. The propagating wave is a combination of two pulses. A low frequency pulse is expected to change the local scattering properties of the tissue due to compression/rarefaction while a high frequency pulse is used for imaging. Two transmissions are performed for each scanning line. First, with the imaging pulse that propagates on maximum compression caused by a low frequency wave. Next, the low frequency wave is inverted and the imaging pulse propagates over the maximum rarefaction. After the processing of the subtracted echoes from subsequent transmissions including wavelet transform and band-pass filtering, differential images were reconstructed. The low frequency wave has a visible impact on the scattering properties of the tissue which can be observed on a differential image.

It is commonly known that the available non-destructive and mechanical methods of the Young modulus measurement yield different results. This paper presents comparison of the results of experimental determination and numerical modeling of the Young modulus of Cr–Al2O3–Re composites (MMC) processed by a powder metallurgical method (SPS). In the computational model a finite element analysis is combined with images of the real material microstructure obtained from micro-computed tomography (micro-CT). Experimental measurements were carried out by four testing methods: three-point bending, resonance frequency damping analysis (RFDA), ultrasonic pulse-echo technique, and scanning acoustic microscopy. The paper also addresses the issue which of the four experimental methods at hand gives results closest to the theoretical predictions of the micro-CT based FEM model.

Finite element analysis (FEA), Micro-CT based FE model, Metal matrix composites, Elastic modulus, Mechanical and nondestructive techniques

A dedicated ultrasonic scanner for acquiring RF echoes backscattered from the trabecular bone was developed. The design of device is based on the goal of minimizing of custom electronics and computations executed solely on the main computer processor and the graphics card. The electronic encoder-digitizer module executing all of the transmission and reception functions is based on a single low-cost field programmable gate array (FPGA). The scanner is equipped with a mechanical sector-scan probe with a concave transducer with 50 mm focal length, center frequency of 1.5 MHz and 60% bandwidth at −6 dB. The example of femoral neck bone examination shows that the scanner can provide ultrasonic data from deeply located bones with the ultrasound penetrating the trabecular bone up to a depth of 20 mm. It is also shown that the RF echo data acquired with the scanner allow for the estimation of attenuation coefficient and frequency dependence of backscattering coefficient of trabecular bone. The values of the calculated parameters are in the range of corresponding in vitro data from the literature but their variation is relatively high.

cancellous bone, broadband ultrasound attenuation, FPGA

The paper presents a classification of the healthy skin and the skin lesions (basal cell carcinoma) basing on a statistics of the envelope of ultrasonic echoes. The echoes envelopes distributions were modeled using Rayleigh and K-distribution. The distributions were compared with empirical data to find which of them better models the statistics of the echo-signal obtained from the human skin. The results indicated that the K-distribution provides a better fit. Also, a characteristic parameter of the K-distribution, the effective number of scatterers (M), was investigated. The values of the M parameter, obtained for the skin cancer (basal cell carcinoma), were lower as compared to those obtained for the healthy skin. The results indicate that the statistical quantitative ultrasound parameters have a potential for extracting information useful for characterization of the skin condition.

statistics, K-distribution, Rayleigh distribution, ultrasonic scattering, human dermis

Propagation of ultrasonic waves in the tissue is sensitive to the alternation of tissue composition and structure.. This paper presents the classification of healthy skin and skin lesions (basal cell carcinoma (BCC)) based on statistic parameters of the envelope of echosignal. The statistics of envelope of the ultrasonic signal was modeled using Rayleigh and non-Rayleigh (the K-distribution) statistics. Furthermore the characteristic parameter of K-distribution, the effective number of scaterrers (M) was investigated.
Comparison of the results obtained for region of the skin where the BCC was diagnosed and the regions of healthy skin has shown differences in the values of M parameter. These results indicate that this parameter has the potential for extracting information useful for characterizing skin lesions.

high frequency, ultrasound, basall cell carcinoma, ststistics

Ultrasonic imaging is a well-established technique in medicine. However, in most conventional applications of clinical ultrasonic scanners only the peak amplitude echogenicity is used to create the image. Moreover, signal envelope detection destroys potentially useful information about frequency dependence of acoustic properties of tissue comprised in RF backscattered echoes. We have explored the possibility of developing the method of imaging the distribution of the acoustic attenuation in tissue. We expect that the method will help in localization of the pathological states of tissue including tumors and diffuse liver diseases. The spatial resolution and precision of the method are crucial for medical diagnosis, hence the synthetic aperture technique was applied for ultrasonic data collection. The final goal of the presented project is to develop reliable diagnostic tool, which could be implemented in standard USG systems, as the new visualization mode.

soft tissue parametric imaging, attenuation imaging, synthetic aperture focusing technique

The integral equations that describe scattering in the media with step-rise changing parameters have been numerically solved for the trabecular bone model. The model consists of several hundred discrete randomly distributed elements. The spectral distribution of scattering coefficients in subse- quent orders of scattering has been presented. Calculations were carried on for the ultrasonic frequency ranging from 0.5 to 3 MHz. Evaluation of the contribution of the first, second, and higher scattering orders to total scattering of the ultrasounds in trabecular bone was done. Contrary to the approaches that use the lCT images of trabecular structure to modeling of the ultrasonic wave propagation condition, the 3D numerical model consisting of cylindrical elements mimicking the spatial matrix of trabeculae, was applied. The scattering, due to interconnections between thick trabeculae, usually neglected in trabecular bone models, has been included in calculations when the structure backscatter was evaluated. Influence of the absorption in subsequent orders of scattering is also addressed. Results show that up to 1.5 MHz, the influence of higher scattering orders on the total scattered field characteristic can be neglected while for the higher frequencies, the relatively high amplitude interference peaks in higher scattering orders clearly occur.

Multiple scattering, Complex media, Bone

The paper describes the investigations intended to compare the results of experimental measurements f backscattering properties of the trabecular bone with the results of computer simulations. Ultrasonic RF echoes were collected using two bone scanners operating at 0.58 and 1.3 MHz. The simulations of the backscattered RF echoes were performed using the scattering model of the trabecular bone that consisted of cylindrical and spherical elements uniformly distributed in waterlike medium. For each measured or simulated RF backscatter the statistical properties of the signal envelope were determined. Experimental results suggest deviations of the backscattering properties from the Rayleigh distribution. The results of simulation suggest that deviation from Rayleigh distribution depends on the variation of trabeculae diameters and the number of thin trabeculae. Experimentally determined deviations corresponded well to the deviations calculated from simulated echoes assuming trabeculae thickness variation equaled to the earlier published histomorphometric study results.

trabecular bone, scattering statistics, bone model

The attenuating properties of biological tissue are of great importance in ultrasonic medical imaging. Investigations performed in vitro and in vivo showed the correlation between pathological changes in the tissue and variation of the attenuation coefficient. In order to estimate the attenuation we have used the downshift of mean frequency (fm) of the interrogating ultrasonic pulse propagating in the medium. To determine the fm along the propagation path we have applied the fm estimator (I/Q algorithm adopted from the Doppler mean frequency estimation technique). The mean-frequency shift trend was calculated using Single Spectrum Analysis. Next, the trends were converted into attenuation coefficient distributions and finally the parametric images were computed. The RF data were collected in simulations and experiments applying the synthetic aperture (SA) transmit-receiving scheme. In measurements the ultrasonic scanner enabling a full control of the transmission and reception was used. The resolution and accuracy of the method was verified using tissue mimicking phantom with uniform echogenicity but varying attenuation coefficient.

tissue attenuation imaging, synthetic aperture, diagnosis enhancing

Typical diagnostic process in dermatology includes clinical assessment, dermoscopic and histopathologic examination. Microsonography was initiated in seventies and much progress in the development of high-frequency scanners occurred since that time. The aim of the study was the assessment of high frequency ultrasonography in dermatologic diagnostics. Material and methods. Examination was performed with 30 MHz ultrasound transducer with 0,1 mm resolution and 7 mm penetration. We examined patients with benign and malignant neoplasms, cicatrical alopecia and morphea. Results. Sonographically, the normal skin is composed of three layers: an epidermal entry echo, dermis and subcutaneous tissue. In healthy skin we can image small hypoechoic areas which correspond to hair folicules, vessels and sebaceous glands. Most of small skin neoplasmatic lesions were hypoechogenic and homogeneous on examination. Extensive lesions were multicomponent with normo-, hypo- and anechogenic structures. The assessment of lesion’s boarders allows sometimes to conclude the invasiveness of the lesion. Areas of skin with clinically visible atrophy showed diffuse increasing of echogenicity. In early lesions, without accomplished fibrosis, diffuse decreasing of echogenicity can be observed, that is probably caused by inflammatory infiltration. In comparison to the healthy skin, the ultrasound scan of sclerotic skin shows a wide entry echo and highly reflective, thicker dermis as a result of the collagen fibers accumulation. Conclusions. Above data suggest that ultrasonographic examination may be a valuable dermatologic diagnostic tool that completes classical dermatologic diagnostics and helps to plan the treatment.

high frequency ultrasonography, benign neoplasms, malignant neoplasms, cicatrical alopecia, morphea

Some important details of the Backscatter Effective Cross-Sections (BECS) obtained for random scattering structures (like trabecular bone) are explain by comparison with the results obtained by means of the simplified theoretical model. The simplified model was (establish) and justified on the basis of the structural analysis of the results obtained for exact model of the field scattering on complex structures. The simplified model is commonly used in description of the scattering on the regular structures like crystal. Comparison with experimental results for the trabecular bone is also presented. The results allowed to conclude that crystallographic methods could be potentially useful for extracting characteristic features of trabecular bone.

Multi scattering, Random structures

The mean frequency correlation estimator and SSA technique were implemented for processing of the RF ultrasonic echoes. The estimated attenuation values were equal to 0.7 and 0.9 dB/(MHz∙cm) and agreed well with the real values. We have found the RF data obtained using synthetic aperture technique (SA) to be much more reliable in terms of attenuation extraction then echoes recorded using the standard delay and sum (DAS) beamforming. The imaging of attenuation in tissue seems to be a promising technique in medical diagnostics, although the precision of a single scan is often unsatisfactory.

tissue attenuation imaging, sythetic aperture focusing technique

The paper considers the application of statistical properties of backscattered ultrasonic signal for assessment of the trabecular bone status. Computer simulations were conducted to investigate the properties of the ultrasound pulse-echo signal, as it is received on the transducer surface after scattering in trabecular bone. The micro-architecture of trabecular bone was modeled by a random distribution of long and thin cylindrical scatterers of randomly varying diameters and mechanical properties, oriented perpendicular to the ultrasound beam axis. The received echo signal was calculated as a superposition of echoes from all the scatterers present in the scattering volume. The simulated signal envelope was used for statistical processing to compute various parameters like the mean amplitude, the amplitude MSR defined as the ratio of the mean to the standard deviation and the amplitude histogram. Results indicated that while for the well-defined trabeculae properties within the simulated bone structure the signal envelope values are Rayleigh distributed the significant departures from Rayleigh statistics may be expected as the thickness of trabeculae become random. The influence of the variation of mechanical properties of the bone tissue building the trabeculae on the bone backscattered signal parameters was not observed.

trabecular bone, Rayleigh distribution, scattering, simulations

A trabecular bone consists of trabeculae whose mechanical properties differ significantly from the surrounding marrow, therefore an ultrasonic wave propagating within the bone structure is strongly scattered. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the contribution of the first, second and higher order scattering (multiple scattering) into the total scattering of ultrasound in a trabecular bone. The scattering due to the interconnections between thick trabeculae, usually neglected in trabecular bone models, has been also studied. The basic element in our model of the trabecular bone was an elastic cylinder with a various finite-length and diameter as well as orientation. The applied model was taking into account variation of both, elements size and their spatial configuration. The field scattered on the bone model was evaluated by solving numerically the integral form of the generalized Sturm-Liouville equation describing a scalar wave in inhomogeneous and lossy media. For the scattered fields calculated numerically the effective cross-sections were determined. The influence of absorption on the scattering coefficients was demonstrated. The results allowed to conclude that within the frequency range from 0.5 to 1.5 MHz contribution of the second order scattering to the effective backscattering cross-section is at least 500 times lower than that due to the first order scattering. It was noticed that for a frequency higher than 1.5 MHz fast growth of the backscattering (reflection) coefficients, calculated for the second order scattering, occurs.

multi-scattering, random complex structures, trabecular bone model

The pathological states of biological tissue are often resulted in attenuation changes. Thus, information about attenuating properties of tissue is valuable for the physician and could be useful in ultrasonic diagnosis. We are currently develop ing a technique for parametric imaging of attenuation and we intend to apply it for in vivo characterization of tissue. The attenuation estimation method based on the echoes mean frequency changes due to tissue attenuation dispersion, is presented. The Doppler IQ technique was adopted to estimate the mean frequency directly from the raw RF data. The Singular Spectrum Analysis technique was used for the extraction of mean frequency trends. These trends were converted into atten uation distribution and finally the parametric images were computed. In order to reduce variation of attenuation estimates the spatial compounding method was applied. Operation and accuracy of attenuation extracting procedure was verified by calculating the attenuation coefficient distribution using the data from the tissue phantom (DFS, Denmark) with uniform echogenicity while attenuation coefficient underwent variation.

ultrasound attenuation estimation, spatial compounding, parametric imaging

The scattering of ultrasonic waves depends on the size, shape, acoustical properties and concentration of scatterers in tissue. In these study K distribution of the ultrasound backscatter envelope was used to assess the structural properties of the skin tissue. The custom-designed high frequency ultrasonic scanner was applied to obtain RF B-scans of the skin in vivo at the frequency of 20-30MHz.
The results are encouraging. The K distribution models the envelope statistics very well. The parameters of the K-distribution, namely, the effective number of scatterers may be useful for the skin characterization.

skin characterization, ultrasound, K distribution

Ultrasonography (USG) is a widespread and powerful tool used successfully in modern diagnostics. The standard USG scanner reflects impedance variations within the tissue that is penetrated by the ultrasound pulse. Although such image provides a lot of information to the physician, there are another parameters which could be imaged. The attenuation coefficient is one of them. Imaging of attenuation seems to be a promising tool for ultrasonic medical diagnostics. The attenuation estimation method based on the echoes mean frequency changes due to tissue attenuation dispersion is presented. The Doppler IQ technique is adopted to estimate the mean frequency changes directly from the raw RF data. The Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) technique is used for the mean frequency trend extraction. The changes of the mean frequency trend are related directly to the local attenuation coefficient. Preliminary results of the tissue phantom attenuation coefficient estimation and imaging using the commercial scanner are presented.

tissue attenuation imaging, ultrasound attenuation estimation

Signals scattered in trabecular bone contain information about properties of the bone structure. Evaluation of this properties may be essential for osteoporosis diagnosis and treatment monitoring because the standard densitometry does not provide complete information about the bone strength. It was previously demonstrated that using numerical model of backscattering in trabecular bone it is possible to estimate some microstructural characteristics of bone. Model predicts departures from the Rayleigh statistics of the scattered signal envelope depended on the scatterer physical parameters and its shape uniformity. This study concerns examination of trabecular bone (calcaneus) in vivo. Ultrasonic bone scanner operating at frequency of 1,5 MHz was used to collect backscattered signals. Data were processed in order to obtain the statistical properties of the signal envelope and to compare them with histograms resulting from modeling. This study is an approach towards developing a tool for the investigation of scattering in trabecular bone that can potentially provide clinically useful information about bone strength and condition.

bone structure, bone properties, calcaneus

The paper describes the computer simulations allowing investigating the properties of the ultrasound pulse-echo signal, as it is received on the transducer surface after scattering in trabecular bone. A novel computer simulation model provides better understanding of ultrasonic scattering in porous bone structure and it can be also used to yield an ideal environment in which, the effects of various parameters (scatterer mechanical and geometrical properties, scatterer’ concentration), the shape of incident wave and experimental conditions influencing the scattering of ultrasonic waves in trabecular bone structure can be examined individually. The results proved that the computer simulation has a particular relevance in studying scattering in cancellous bone which may be approximated as a collection of two populations of scatterers, cylindrical and spherical that imitate thick and thin trabeculae respectively.

bone modeling, scattering simulation, osteoporosis, trabecular bone

The attenuating properties of biological tissue are of great importance in ultrasonic examination even though its anatomical variability limits diagnostics effectiveness. We are currently developing a technique for parametric imaging of attenuation and we intend to apply it for in vivo characterization of tissue. The diagnostic usefulness of the proposed technique crucially depends on the precision of the attenuation estimate and the resolution of the parametric image. These two parameters are highly correlated, since the resolution is reduced whenever averaging is used to minimize the errors introduced by the random character of the backscatter. Here we report on the results of numerical processing of both, simulated and recorded from a tissue-mimicking phantom echoes. We have analyzed the parameters of the estimation technique and examined their influence on the precision of the attenuation estimate and on the parametric image resolution. The optimal selection of attenuation image parameters depending on its intended diagnostic use, was also considered.

ultrasound attenuation, spatial resolution, parametric imaging

The scattering of ultrasonic waves depends on the size, shape, acoustical properties and concentration of scatterers in the tissue. The spectrum of the ultrasonic backscatter can be used to characterize non-invasively the structural and mechanical properties of tissue. We intend to apply the custom-designed high-frequency ultrasonic scanner for the skin and cutaneous lesions characterization by evaluating their attenuating and scattering properties. In this pilot study, we have explored the possibility of extracting the human skin backscattering coefficient (BC) from the ultrasonic B-scans obtained in vivo at 20–30 MHz. The measured BC values of normal skin (dermis) agree well with the published data. We have found also that the spatial resolution of the BC determination using our scanner is sufficient (aprox. 1 mm2) to characterize small skin lesions and assess their penetration depth.

attenuation coefficient, backscattering coefficient, dermis

Integral equations that describe scattering on the structure with step like abruptly changing physical parameters, have been numerically solved on example of the trabecular bone model. The model consists of several hundred elements with randomly selected parameters. The spectral distribution of scatter coefficients in subsequent orders - first second and third- of scattering has been presented.

Multiple scattering in absorbing medium, Complex random structure, Back scatter coefficients

A new Acoustic Microscope operating at the frequency up to 200 MHz and allowing for visualization of the internal structures of materials was developed. The system was built basing on the commercially available components and the self-designed acoustic lenses. The dedicated software was developed to control the process of 3D RF-data acquisition, processing and presenting in 2D cross-sections or 3D surface rendering mode. This article describes the technical principles of the constructed microscope and presents the reconstructed images of the designed test-probe and of the integrated circuit.

Acoustic Microscopy, SAM, 3D imaging, rendering, subsurface imaging

This study investigates a new composing method of double transmission of short coded sequences based on well-known Golay complementary codes, which allow to obtain the higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and increase penetration depth. The proposed method can potentially find application in small parts ultrasonography and play important role in examination of superficial structures, e.g. in dermatology, ophthalmology, etc., where using longer coded sequences leads to increase of a dead zone and single pulse transmission of short sequences does not assure sufficient SNR. This paper discusses the comparison of results obtained during the examination of four different lengths pairs of Golay coded sequences excited at 3.7 MHz: the single 64-bits pair of Golay sequences and combined sequences consisting of two 8-, 16-, and 32-bits Golay codes separated in time. The experimental results have shown that using the double pulse transmission allows to suppress considerably the noise level, the SNR increases by 5.7 dB in comparison with the single pulse transmission of Golay sequences of the same length. The results of this work indicate that double pulse transmission enhances SNR while maintaining the dead zone short.

Golay complementary sequences, double pulse transmission, dead zone

An influence effect of fractional bandwidth of ultrasound imaging transducer on the gain of compressed echo signal being the complementary Golay sequences (CGS) with different spectral widths is studied in this paper. Also, a new composing transmission method of CGS is discussed together with compression technique applied in order to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and penetration.
The CGS with two different bit lengths, one-cycle and two-cycles are investigated. Two transducers with fractional bandwidth of 25% and 80% at centre frequency 6 MHz are used. The experimental results are presented, clearly proofing that increasing of the code length leads to compressed echo amplitude enhancement. The smaller the bandwidth is the larger is this effect; the pulse-echo sensitivity of the echo amplitude increases by 1.88 for 25% fractional bandwidth and 1.47 for 80% while preserving time resolution. The presented results of double transmission of short codes show the penetration and SNR improvement while maintaining dead zone.

ultrasound, transducer, bandwidth, Golay code

Coded ultrasonography is intensively studied in many laboratories due to its remarkable properties, particularly increased penetration depth and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). However, no data on the spatial behavior of the pressure field generated by coded bursts transmissions in the tissue were yet reported. This paper reports the results of investigations of the field structure in water, in degassed beef liver and in pork tissue using four different excitations signals, two and 16 periods sine bursts and sinusoidal sequences with phase modulation using 13-bits Barker code and 16-bits Golay complementary codes. The results of measured pressure field distributions before and after compression were compared with those recorded using short pulse excitation.

Coded excitation, Ultrasound field distribution, Matching filtering

Advances in modern technology increases requirements for nondestructive characterization of material and biological properties in the μm range. The acoustic microscope presented in this paper combines C-scan and B-scan modes. The data collected during single XY scan allow to present transversal and horizontal crosssections of the sample as well as real three-dimensional images of the sample interior. The system consist of several components: step motor driven mechanical scanner, transmitter/ receiver device, ADC 1 GHz board, ultrasonic heads, PC-class computer and image processing and visualization software. Image processing software is used for initial 3D image analysis of the whole image or its fragments, and for preparing it this way for vectorization. To achieve vectorization we used VTK (Visualization Tool Kit) library from Kitware Inc., which is the open source software, designed for 3D graphics and image processing. Finally iso-surface is constructed and presented as 3D scene in interactive GUI (Graphical User Interface).

3D visualization, microscope, ultrasound

This work reports the results of measurements of spatial distributions of ultrasound fields obtained from five energizing schemes. Three different codes, namely, chirp signal and two sinusoidal sequences were investigated. The sequences were phase modulated with 13 bits Barker code and 16 bits Golay complementary codes. Moreover, two reference signals generated as two and sixteen cycle sine tone bursts were examined. Planar, 50% (fractional) bandwidth, 15 mm diameter source transducer operating at 2 MHz center frequency was used in all measurements. The experimental data were collected using computerized scanning system and recorded using wideband, PVDF membrane hydrophone (Sonora 804). The measured echoes were compressed, so the complete pressure field in the investigated location before and after compression could be compared. In addition to a priori anticipated increase in the signal to noise ratio (SNR) for the decoded pressure fields, the results indicated differences in the pressure amplitude levels, directivity patterns, and the axial distance at which the maximum pressure amplitude was recorded. It was found that the directivity patterns of non-compressed fields exhibited shapes similar to the patterns characteristic for sinusoidal excitation having relatively long time duration. In contrast, the patterns corresponding to compressed fields resembled those produced by brief, wideband pulses. This was particularly visible in the case of binary sequences. The location of the maximum pressure amplitude measured in the 2 MHz field shifted towards the source by 15 mm and 25 mm for Barker code and Golay code, respectively. The results of this work may be applicable in the development of new coded excitation schemes. They could also be helpful in optimizing the design of imaging transducers employed in ultrasound systems designed for coded excitation. Finally, they could shed additional light on the relationship between the spatial field distribution and achievable image quality and in this way facilitate optimization of the images obtained using coded systems.

coded excitation, sound fields

ultrasound exposure, therapcutic ultrasound, membraue pcrmeability, giant vesicles

This study concerns the development and investigation of a new composing method of short coded sequences and their transmission based on well-known Golay complementary codes and applied compression technique allowing to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and penetration. This new method can potentially play important role in examination of superficial structures, e.g. dermatology, ophthalmology, etc. This paper reports the results of examination of the two pairs 3.5 MHz coded sequences of the same duration: the single 32-bits pair Golay sequences and combined sequences consisting of two 16-bits Golay codes separated in time. The results clearly demonstrate the potential of the combined coded transmission obtaining the SNR = 22.6 dB that is 2.6 dB higher than for the traditional Golay sequences and it is in case when coded length is two times shorter. For obtaining the same SNR using traditional method the code length should be at least 64 bits long, resulting in the increased dead zone up to 1.4 cm.

Golay complementary sequences, double transmission, dead zone

Scanning acoustic microscope techniques enable determination of mechanical properties of small samples. These techniques can be applied to a single trabecula of the cancellous bone. This paper describes nondestructive methods for assessing the bone tissue elasticity for samples accessible from one side only. Two methods are applied in the same area of a trabecula. The first one allows determination of the tissue impedance,based on the correlation between the grey levels of the scanning acoustic microscope images and of the reference material of a known impedance. The second newly-developed technique enables measurement of the velocity of surface waves with a spatial resolution less than 100 m, using theoretical and experimental analysis of the position of the first interference of the V(z) curve. These two experimentally-derived parameters were used to calculate the density and elasticity coefficient for trabecular bone samples of patients who suffered from metabolic bone diseases, such as osteoporosis, osteomalacia and osteoidosis. Medical descriptions of these diseases explain the differences in mechanical properties of trabecular bone tissue found experimentally.

SAM, Trabecular bone, Elasticity, Density, Impedance, Surface wave velocity, Osteoporosis

We investigate the usefulness of formula-driven supervised learning (FDSL) for breast ultrasound (US) image analysis. Medical data are usually too scarce to develop a better performing deep learning model from scratch. Transfer learning with networks pre-trained on ImageNet is commonly applied to address this problem. FDSL techniques have been recently investigated as an alternative solution to ImageNet based approaches. In the FDSL setting, networks for transfer learning applications are developed using large amounts of synthetic images generated with mathematical formulas, possibly taking into account the characteristics of the target data. In this work, we use Field II to develop a large synthetic dataset of 100 000 US images presenting different contour objects, as shape features play an important role in breast mass characterization in US. Synthetic data are utilized to pre-train the ResNet50 classification model and various variants of the U-Net segmentation network. Next, the pre-trained models are fine-tuned on breast mass US images. Our results demonstrate that the proposed FDSL approach can provide good performance with respect to breast mass classification and segmentation.

breast cancer, deep learning, synthetic data, ultrasound

Standard classification methods based on hand-crafted morphological and texture features have achieved good performance in breast mass differentiation in ultrasound (US).
In comparison to deep neural networks, commonly perceived as ‘black-box’ models, classical techniques are based on features that have well-understood medical and physical interpretation. However, classifiers based on morphological features commonly
underperform in the presence of the shadowing artifact and ill-defined mass borders, while texture based classifiers may fail when the US image is too noisy. Therefore, in practice it would be beneficial to select the classification method based on the appearance of the particular US image. In this work, we develop a deep meta-network that can automatically process input breast mass US images and recommend whether to apply the shape or
texture based classifier for the breast mass differentiation. Our preliminary results demonstrate that meta-learning techniques can be used to improve the performance of the standard classifiers based on handcrafted features. With the proposed meta-learning based approach, we achieved the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.95 and accuracy of 0.91.

breast mass classification, deep learning, meta-learning, morphological features, texture features

The presented study demonstrates the effectiveness of quantitative ultrasound imaging (H-scan ultrasound) in monitoring the breast cancer response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and predicting pathological response. A group of 40 patients (51 breast tumors) participated in the study. The results showed that QUS imaging was able to distinguish between breast cancer patients responding and not responding to chemotherapy early in the course of treatment. Analysis of the percentage changes in red in the parametric images showed that this parameter can predict the response to treatment of patients with the area under the receiver operational characteristics (ROC) curve of 0.61, 0.70, 0.83, and 0.86, respectively, one week after 1st 2nd , 3rd and 4th dose of treatment.

breast cancer, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, ultrasound, H-scan ultrasounds.

Understanding the relationship between acoustic properties of breast lesions and resulting ultrasound images may contribute to an earlier and more accurate diagnosis of the most common cancer in women. In addition to in vitro studies, in silico tumor models can provide a lot of crucial information due to the possibility of precise determination of the influence of changes in tissue structure on the resulting ultrasound echoes. The purpose was to develop the numerical phantom of the breast with the tumor for a reliable simulation of ultrasound images. In modeling the tissue structures of the breast, the VICTRE phantom, developed by the FDA for the simulation of X-ray mammography, was used. The numerical ultrasound model of breast cancer allows the simulation of ultrasound signals and images. It could be used to interpret, validate and develop new ultrasound methods for cancer diagnosis

breast tumor, numerical phantom, ultrasound imaging

The aim of the paper was a preliminary comparison of heating efficiency by the two physically different modalities, namely ultrasound sonication and alternating magnetic field, of magnetic nanoparticles added to an agar-gel. Special agar-based tissue mimicking material (TMM) were manufactured from agar with the addition of produced by us iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles of order c/a 11 nanometers. To perform comparison of heating by the measured temperature rise curves caused by the two physical fields differently acting on the material sample, in the case of ultrasonic radiation we did not locate the sensor of thermometer in the ultrasonic beam focus, as it was usually studied, but we put it in the place where distribution of ultrasound intensity was more homogeneous. It was motivated by the fact that the “homogeneous heating” by the magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles which are spatially homogeneously distributed should be compared with the ultrasonic heating effects caused by the spatially homogeneous ultrasonic sources. The obtained results confirm that for both fields, ultrasound and magnetic, the temperature increase was caused by the presence of nanoparticles. In the case of heating by magnetic field pure agar-gel was not heated at all, and during sonication the pure agar-gel exhibited very small thermal effect, due only to the structure of the agar-gel crosslinking. We concluded that the ultrasonic absorption was in our experiment greater than magnetic, but the temperature rise after 180 s of magnetic field action was greater than of sonication.

Heating systems, Ultrasonic imaging, Temperature measurement, Acoustics, Magnetic fields, Nanoparticles, Ultrasonic variables measurement

Agar-gel based materials are widely used as tissue mimicking materials. Pure agar-gel is stable up to 60◦C but exhibits small ultrasound attenuation compared to a soft tissue. To enhance the attenuation of agar-gel we fabricated samples of agar-gel with the adding of graphite micro particles (GMP), magnetic micro particles (MMP) and magnetic nano particles (MNP) with two weight fractions of dry powders added before the formation of the gel to the aqueous agar solution, namely 0.8 % and 1.6 %, respectively. In order to compare the thermal effect caused by the addition of a particles, the samples immersed in a water bath were heated by 2 MHz circular focused transducer (diameter 44 mm), with power of 1, 2, 3 and 4 W. The temperature rise curves were recorded using thermocouples. The temperature change rate (TCR) in the initial point of heating was calculated. For the 0.8 % weight fraction the MMP sample had the highest TCR value at each sound power tested, the smallest value had the MNP sample. For the 1.6 % weight fraction, the highest TCR value had the MNP sample, while the smallest TCR had the GMP sample. We stated that for the higher fraction of particles, the MNP material had the highest TCR value for all powers, and besides the difference between TCR in MMP and GMP samples was less than the difference between TCR in MMP and MNP samples. Besides, the MNP sample exhibited the minimal exposure time to achieve the temperature increment of 5◦C for all applied acoustic powers. These facts underline the unique properties of MNP material and its usefulness as a model material for ultrasonic hyperthermia experiments.

tissue mimicking materials, ultrasound hyperthermia, nano and micro magnetic particles, temperature change rate

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is used in breast cancer patients to reduce tumor size, decrease the risk of local recurrence, and diminish the likelihood of metastases, all of which reduce patient mortality. Assessment of the response to NAC at an early stage of treatment allows therapy to be personalized. The quantitative ultrasound method is a novel diagnostic approach with great potential to improve outcomes for breast cancer patients. The aim of this study was to analyze the variability of the integrated backscatter coefficient (IBSC) in the context of the assessment of changes in tumor tissue structure resulting from chemotherapy, and to evaluate use of IBSC to predict the effectiveness of treatment. Ultrasound data (B-mode images and raw ultrasonic radio frequency signals RF) were collected from cancerous tumors from patients intended to NAC before starting treatment and a week after each chemotherapy dose. Data were processed to generate IBSC maps and to determine IBSC mean values. The assessment of tumors using IBSC, in comparison with histopathological verification, showed that IBSC changes can be associated with changes which tumor structure changes during NAC. IBSC analysis correlated better with the results of histopathological verification than B-mode imaging.

Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in female patients. The quantitative ultrasound techniques being developed recently provide useful information facilitating the classification of tumors as malignant or benign. Quantitative parameters are typically determined on the basis of signals scattered within the tumor. The present paper demonstrates the utility of quantitative data estimated based on signal backscatter in the tissue surrounding the tumor. Two quantitative parameters, weighted entropy and Nakagami shape parameter were calculated from the backscatter signal envelope. The ROC curves and the AUC parameter values were used to assess their ability to classify neoplastic lesions. Results indicate that data from tissue surrounding the tumor may characterize it better than data from within the tumor. AUC values were on average 18% higher for parameters calculated from data collected from the tissue surrounding the lesion than from the data from the lesion itself.

uantitative ultrasound, Tissue characterisation, Tumor classification

Estimation of the thickness and sound velocity of cortical bone is important per se as well as for correcting measurements of cancellous bone properties. We propose a method that allows the thickness of a compact bone layer and longitudinal wave velocity in the bone to be determined simultaneously with the use of the reflected waves, with particular emphasis on the 1mm - 3mm thick bone layers corresponding to the thickness of the cortex of the human femur. The method was tested using ultrasonic data obtained from cortical bone phantoms and a fresh calf bone specimen. The results show that the method seems to be well suited to be employed for the determination of the thickness and acoustic wave velocity of the cortical bone layer.

Cortical bone, trabecular bone, thickness and velocities of cortical shell, reflected waves, BUA

Nakagami distribution is used to model the statistical properties of backscattered echoes in tissue. The proper estimate requires the compensation of attenuation along each scanning line. Attenuation of the wave results in decreasing of the envelope mean intensity with depth what modifies the Nakagami scale parameter. This phenomenon violates the assumption that envelope samples within region of interest are identically distributed and disrupts estimation. Here, we investigate the influence of wave attenuation on Nakagami shape parameter estimators for various scattering scenarios, attenuation coefficients and region of interest size. Three methods are proposed to solve this issue. Scans of a thyroid and of a breast lesion are analyzed. It was found that proposed methods improved the estimation, especially when larger regions were used to collect envelope samples.

ultrasound, breast cancer, Nakagami distribution

The aim of the study was finding the relationship between BIRADS classification combined with envelope K and Nakagami statistics of the echoes backscattered in the breast tissue in vivo and the histological data. 107 breast lesions were examined. Both, the RF echo-signal and B-mode images from the lesions and surrounding tissue were recorded. The analysis method was based on the combining data from BIRADS classifications and both distributions parameters. 107 breasts lesions - 32 malignant and 75 benign - were examined. When only BIRADS classification was used all malignant lesions were diagnosed correctly, however 34 benign lesions were sent for the biopsy unnecessarily. For K distribution the sensitivity and specificity were 78.13%, and 86.67% while for Nakagami statistics the sensitivity and specificity were 62.50% and 93.33%, respectively. Combined K and BIRADS resulted in sensitivity of 96.67% and specificity 60%. Combined BIRADS (3/4a cut-off) plus Nakagami statistics showed 100% of sensitivity with specificity equal 57.33%, decreasing the number of lesions which were biopsied from 34 to 28.

breast cancer, quantitative ultrasound, BIRADS

Basal cell carcinoma is the most common cutaneous malignancy, representing 80% of all skin cancer cases. The quantitative ultrasound can provide information potentially helpful in diagnosing. The goal of this study was to find the quantitative measure of the skin tissue backscattering properties that could be used for differentiating the changes of tissue structure induced by Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) and precancerous lesions - Actinic Keratosis (AK). The study presents the results concerning the statistical properties of ultrasonic echoes scattered in cancer lesions and attenuation coefficient determined from the backscatter.

tissue characterization, quantitative ultrasound,skin lesions, statistical distribution, attenuation coefficient

Nowadays there are new modalities in ultrasound imaging allowing better characterization of tissue regions with different stiffness. We are proposing an approach based on simultaneous propagation of two waves being a combination of two pulses differing in pressure and frequency: a low frequency pulse is expected to change the local scattering properties of the tissue due to compression/rarefaction while a high frequency pulse is used for imaging. Two transmissions are performed for each scanning line. First, with the imaging pulse that propagates on maximum compression caused by a low frequency wave. Next, the low frequency wave is inverted and the imaging pulse propagates over the maximum rarefaction. After the processing of the subtracted echoes from subsequent transmissions including wavelet transform and band-pass filtering, differential images were reconstructed. The low frequency wave has a visible impact on the scattering properties of the tissue which can be observed on a differential image.

The parametric imaging can enhance ultrasonic examinations that are widely used in medical diagnostics. Attenuation of the wave propagating through the soft tissue reflects the state of the tissue, what is clearly demonstrated in literature. The visualization of the spatial distribution of attenuation may support the diagnosis by accurate discrimination of the lesions from normal tissue at the early stage of the disease. This research is focused on the developing of the method of attenuation estimation from ultrasonic backscatter. It would allow to produce the parametric images from the same data as the standard B-mode images. The attenuation estimation method bases on the spectral mean frequency (fm) downshift of the propagating pulse, that results from the frequency dependence of attenuation. The fm was determined (using fm correlation estimator and trend extraction with Single Spectrum Analysis algorithm) from the ultrasonic echoes scattered in the tissue mimicking phantom which contained a cylinder with the attenuation coefficient higher than in the background. The data acquisition were performed using ultrasonic scanner. The earlier research indicated the effectiveness of attenuation estimation method using the synthetic aperture technique to collect the data. The use of the synthetic transmit aperture scheme to acquire the data results in better attenuation imaging comparing to standard beamforming, however it lower the penetration depth. In this research the compounded plane wave transmit-receiving scheme was used, to improve the penetration range. Compensation for the diffraction effects was included in the data processing. The results indicate suitability of this approach for attenuation imaging. We can measure attenuation in the tissue mimicking materials with the spatial resolution of approximately 10mm and accuracy of 0.2dB/(MHz·cm). In the presentation, the attenuation images of tissue mimicking phantoms and the images of human liver, obtained in vivo, will be presented.

attenuation imaging, plane wave imaging

The Ultrasonix SonixTouch scanner with the special RF block was used to collect Bmode images together with appropriate RF echoes from the pathological and healthy breasts regions of patients with diagnosed malignant and benign breast lesions. The RF data were processed for the statistics of the backscattered echo signals assessment (K distribution and effective density of scatterers – M and Nakagami distribution and its shape parameter m). The comparison of signals recorded from malignant and healthy tissues showed, that in 80% of examined cases the values of the statistical parameters M were higher for carcinomas tissues than for healthy tissue. Beside of that in the case of benign lesions obtained results was able to distinguish the fibroadenoma from the other with probability of 75%.

quantitative ultrasound, breast cancer, statistics

The goal of this study was to find the macroscopic characteristics of the random nature of ultrasonic backscattering signals which would be sensitive to the temperature changes. The sample made of Polyvinyl Alcohol – Cryogel (PVA-C, the pre-freezing in one cycle aqueous solution of PVA) was heated in a water bath starting from the room temperature up to the temperature below the soft tissue ablation temperature. The RF signals were collected during the heating/cooling process and the signals envelopes had been calculated. The wavelet approximation of subsequent level worked as a low-pass filter what qualitatively improved the temperature estimating. The latter was realized by observing the variations of the shape parameter of K-distribution. The trend of the shape parameter variation with temperature was calculated including the wavelet decomposition and was compared with the real temperature changes measured by the thermometer. We have found that tracking changes in echoes envelope statistics allows to distinguish between heating and cooling process, and determine the time required to reach maximum temperature.

random signals, Polyvinyl Alcohol – Cryogel, wavelet approximation, temperaturę monitoring

Quantitative ultrasounds were applied for the detection and assessment of skin lesions. 30MHz ultrasonic scanner was used to collect B-scan images together with appropriate RF echoes from the pathological and healthy skin regions of skin of patients with diagnosed Basal Cell Carcinoma and precancerous states. The RF data were processed for the attenuation coefficient and statistics assessment (K distribution and effective number of scatterers – M). For patients with BCC the attenuation coefficient was significantly higher than for the healthy skin ones. Also, precancerous skin lesions revealed increased attenuation. The averaged M parameter for cancer lesions was significantly lower than for precancerous states and healthy skin. Similar results were obtained from numerical simulations of the ultrasonic echoes scattered in skin and skin lesions.

skin cancer, K distribution, effective number of scatterers, high frequency ultrasound

Scattering-based ultrasonic methods potentially enable assessment of microscopic structure of bone. In our previous study we have shown how to account the higher orders of scattering in the backscatter evaluation. Here, the role of multiple scattering in bone backscatter is assessed for the varying bone porosity. The set of integral equations corresponding to the singular Sturm–Liouville equation was solved numerically allowing for the calculation of the field scattered forward and backward in the bone model. The results indicate that for the porosities below 85% the approximation of the first order scattering is not valid for all considered frequencies. The Laue’s equations were applied to explain considerable increase of the scattering at some frequencies. It was shown that the deformation of trabecular mesh results in flattening of the scattering peaks

trabecular bone, ultrasounds scattering, multiple scattering

The attenuation of tissue can be estimated utilizing the downshift of the center frequency of a propagating pulse. In general it is assumed that the shape of the emitted pulse can be approximated by a Gaussian function and attenuation is assumed to change linearly with frequency. At this conditions the downshift of the mean frequency of pulse spectrum depends linearly on attenuation coefficient, pulse bandwidth and propagation distance. This is a good approximation for relatively narrowband pulses and small penetration depth. But for short pulses and deep penetration the frequency downshift is large and the ultrasonic pulse is no more Gaussian, thus the previous assumption is no longer correct. The closer is the mean frequency of the pulse to the lower frequency bound of the receiving system the bigger deformation of the pulse spectrum occurs and consequently the attenuation is determined with bigger error. The following paper presents how to correct the experimentally determined mean frequency and to obtain reliable results when investigating tissue attenuation with wideband pulses. We propose a new formula for the dependence between pulse mean frequency, tissue attenuation, pulse bandwidth and traveled distance. The formula was derived from the mean frequency of Gaussian pulse spectrum determined in the limited frequency band. The formula was applied to simulate variation of mean frequency MF of the pulse propagating in the medium with attenuation coefficient corresponding to the attenuation in the tissue mimicking phantom. The MF was also determined (using the correlation estimator of MF and next trend extraction using Single Spectrum Analysis) from the simulated ultrasonic echoes and echoes scattered in the tissue phantom. The corrected nonlinear formula describes well MF variation along the pulse propagation path. The departure from the linear dependence increases with large MF shift, thus it is well pronounced for highly attenuating tissue, the wideband pulses and deep penetration.

attenuation estimation, frequency downshift

The long term goal of this research is to develop the system enabling the imaging and quantitative measure of ultrasonic attenuation in tissue. It may support the diagnosis by accurate discrimination of the lesions from normal tissue at the early stage of the disease. The attenuation is estimated from the stochastic ultrasonic backscatter and time/spatial averaging is necessary to achieve reasonable accuracy. However the averaging worsens the spatial resolution. Two techniques of ultrasonic imaging, the Synthetic Aperture Focusing technique (SAFT) and Spatial Compounding (SC), were applied and compared with respect to the quality of attenuation estimation. The ultrasonic RF data were collected from a tissue mimicking phantom using ultrasonic scanner (Ultrasonix SonixTOUCH). Both acquired echoes-sets were processed in the same way in order to calculate the downshift in a mean frequency fm of the backscatter signal and resulting spatial distribution of attenuation coefficient. Compensation for the diffraction effects was included in the data processing. The RF data obtained with use of the SAFT proved to be more suitable for attenuation estimation.

tissue attenuation imaging, synthetic aperture, spatial compounding

Terapeutyczne i chirurgiczne zastosowania ogniskowych ultradźwięków wymagają monitorowania lokalnych zmian temperatury w tkance. Najkorzystniejsze z punktu widzenia użytkowego i ekonomicznego byłoby zastosowanie do tych celów technik ultradźwiękowych.
Praca przedstawia próbę zastosowania metody estymacji przemieszczenia ech do monitorowania zmian temperatury podczas ultradźwiękowego nagrzewania tkanki in vitro. Dane uzyskane drogą pomiarów ultradźwiękowych zostały przetworzone w celu wyznaczenia mapy przemieszczeń ech i odniesione do pomiarów rozkładu temperatury przeprowadzonych za pomocą termopar. Uzyskane wyniki umożliwiają ocenę pola temperatury i pozytywnie rokują połączeniu ultradźwiękowych technik nagrzewania i szacowania lokalnej temperatury tkanki.

obrazowanie temperatury, prędkość akustyczna

W pracy przedstawiono wstępne wyniki pomiaru pola temperatury wewnątrz tkanki in vitro w czasie procesu nagrzewania wiązką ultradźwiękową o słabej mocy oraz pomiaru właściwości akustycznych wzorców tkanek miękkich. Wzorce te zbudowano w celu dalszych badań nad powiązaniem wzrostu temperatury z właściwościami akustycznymi, gdyż próbki tkankowe in vitro okazały się niepowtarzalne i nietrwałe. Na wykonanych 3 wzorcach tkankowych dokonano pomiaru sygnału przejścia i wyznaczono prędkość propagacji impulsu, współczynnik tłumienia oraz zbadano statystykę rozproszenia. Przedyskutowano wpływ liczby elementów rozpraszających na te wielkości.

wzorce tkanek, sygnał ultradźwiękowy, prędkość dźwięku, tłumienie, statystyka rozproszenia

Standardowe obrazy ultrasonograficzne przestawiają rozkład zmian impedancji akustycznej wewnątrz tkanki. Możliwe jest jednak obrazowanie innych parametrów akustycznych. Takie parametryczne obrazy dostarczałyby dodatkowych informacji o stanie tkanki, przydatnych w diagnostyce. Zmiany wartości współczynnika tłumienia fali ultradźwiękowej często towarzyszą patologicznym zmianom struktury tkanki, np. nowotworom. Jedną z metod estymacji tłumienia jest metoda bazująca na przesunięciu częstotliwości średniej widma sygnału w czasie jego propagacji w tkance. Główną niedogodnością metody jest duża wariancja otrzymywanych estymat. W niniejszej pracy przedstawiono rezultaty zastosowania metod uśredniania przestrzennego i częstotliwościowego w celu polepszenia jakości otrzymywanych obrazów rozkładu tłumienia. Weryfikacje metod przeprowadzono w oparciu o dane symulacyjne i dane z fantomu tkankowego o stałej echogeniczności i zmiennym tłumieniu.

estymacja tłumienia, uśrednianie przestrzenne, uśrednianie częstotliwościowe

Therapeutic and surgical applications of focused ultrasound require monitoring of local temperature rises induced inside tissues. From an economic and practical point of view ultrasonic imaging techniques seem to be the best for a temperature control. In this work an attempt to apply the method of the ultrasonic echoes displacement estimation for monitoring local temperature rises in tissues during their heating by focused ultrasound is presented. The estimated temperature rise was compared with this measured by a thermocouple. The obtained results enable to evaluate the temperature fields induced in tissues by pulsed focused ultrasonic beams using non-invasive imaging ultrasound technique.

HIFU, therapeutic ultrasound, ultrasonic imaging, echo strain estimation

While the needles biopsy is still the gold standard in skin cancer diagnosis there is a growing interest in application of the high frequency ultrasound for the skin lesions detection and their thickness assessment. The quantitative ultrasound can provide additional information, potentially helpful in diagnosis. The purpose of this study was to assess the usefulness of the attenuating and statistical properties of the backscattered ultrasounds for the skin tissues characterization. The paper presents the classification of the healthy skin and skin lesions (BCC-basal cell carcinoma and AK-actinic keratosis). For patients with BCC the attenuation coefficient was significantly higher than for the healthy ones. Also, precancerous skin lesions revealed increased attenuation. The statistical properties were different for BCC comparing to AK lesions and healthy skin.

basal cell carcinoma, actinic keratosis, attenuation coefficient, statistical properties, high frequency ultrasound

The paper presents a new yield criterion for the transversal isotropy of metal sheets under plane-stress conditions which is an extension of the isotropic yield function proposed by Burzynski (Burzynski W. l928). Studium nad hipotezami Burzynski's doctoral dissertation „Study on material effort hypotheses”, Engng. Trans., 2009, t. 57, nr 3-4, s. l85-2l5). Two additional coefficients have been introduced in order to allow a better representation of plastic behavior of metal sheets. The proposed yield condition includes the influence of first invariant of the stress tensor and also the strength differential effect. The system of equations describing the sheet metal forming process is solved by algorithm using the return mapping procedure. PIane stress constraint is incorporated into the Newton-Raphson iteration loop. The proposed algorithm is verified by performing a numerical test using shell elements in commercial FEM software ABAQUS/EXPLICIT with a developed VUMAT subroutine. It is shown that the proposed approach provides the satisfactory prediction of material behavior, at least in the cases when anisotropy effects are not advanced. To perform FE simulations of cup deep drawing processes, three independent yield stresses are required. Those yield stresses can be obtained from: directional uniaxial tensile test, directional uniaxial compression test and equibiaxial compression tests. In the paper the formability of two metal sheets are analysed. First the influence of strength differential effect on the cup height profile is shown. Then the comparison between the Huber-Mises-Hencky yield condition and the proposed yield condition is presented.

bone scanner, trabecular bone, osteoporosis

The presented investigations were intended to compare the experimental results obtained from the heel bones in vivo with the results of simulations. Ultrasonic RF echoes were collected using two bone scanners operating at 0.58 MHz and 1.3 MHz. The simulations of the backscattered RF echoes were performed using the scattering model of the trabecular bone that consisted of cylindrical and spherical elements uniformly distributed in water. For each measured or simulated RF backscatter statistical properties of the signal envelope was determined. Experimental results suggest deviations from the Rayleigh distribution. Simulation results suggest that deviations from Rayleigh distribution depend on the variation of trabeculae diameters and the number of thin trabeculae. Experimentally determined deviations corresponded well with the deviations calculated from simulated echoes assuming trabeculae thickness variation equal to published histomorphometric study results.

trabecular bone, scattering, statistical properties

Trabecular bone consists of trabeculae which mechanical properties differ significantly from the surrounding marrow and therefore the ultrasonic wave is strongly scattered within the bone structure. The aim of the presented paper was the evaluation of the contribution of the first, second and higher order scattering (multiple scattering) into total scattering of ultrasounds in the trabecular bone. The scattering due to interconnections between thick trabeculae, usually neglected in trabecular bone models, has been also studied. The basic element in our model of trabecular bone was an elastic cylinder with finite-length and varying diameter and orientation. The applied model was taking into account variation of elements size and spatial configuration. The field scattered on the bone model was evaluated by solving numerically the integral form of the Sturm-Liouville equation that describes scalar wave in inhomogeneous media. For the calculated scattered fields the effective cross-sections as well as the Broadband Ultrasonic Backscatter (BUB) were determined. The influence of the absorption on scattering coefficients was demonstrate. The results allowed to conclude that within the frequency range from 0.5 to 1.5 MHz the contribution of the second order scattering to the effective backscattering cross-section is at least 500 times lower than the one due to the first order scattering. BUB, calculated under the same assumptions, is 20 times lower. Above the 1.5 MHz the fast growth of the BUB, calculated for the second order scattering, occurs.

Complex media, Modeling, Multiple scattering, Trabecular bone,Ultrasound

The semi-empirical scattering models of trabecular bone were developed and examined for their abilities to mimic the frequency dependent backscattering coefficient measured in the cancellous bone. In the simulation of the bone RF echoes the real properties of the bone and experimental conditions were taken into account. Three types of trabeculae mimicking scatterers were considered. First, the bone consisted of cylinders with varying thickness (Gamma distributed) within the population, was assumed. The next two cases accounted for the contribution of thick and thin trabeculae to the total backscattered signal. The second model assumed existence of two populations of the cylindrical scatterers significantly differing in the average value of Gamma distributed diameters. Finally, the mixed model composed of thick and thin trabeculae modeled respectively by cylindrical and spherical scatterers was examined. The last selection resulted from the similarity found between scattering on small sphere and finite cylinder. Calculated echoes demonstrated the usefulness of the mixed model. Frequency dependence of backscattering coefficient agreed well with the experimentally determined dependences. The study showed also that the amplitude histograms calculated using demodulated RF echoes deviate from the Rayleigh distribution when the variation of scatterers’ diameters increases.

trabecular bone structure, modeling, backscatter

In our previous study we have developed the simulation technique that enables determination of the ultrasound signal received at the pulse-echo transducer surface after interrogation of cancellous bone. The simulation can be applied for different scattering models of a trabecular structure. In this study we examined newly developed scattering models of the trabecular bone for their abilities to mimic the frequency dependent backscattering coefficient measured in the cancellous bone. Three types of trabeculae mimicking scatterers were considered. First the bone consisted of cylinders with varying thickness (Gamma distributed) within the population, was assumed. The next two cases accounted for the contribution of thick and thin trabeculae to the total backscattered signal. The second model assumed existence of two populations of the cylindrical scatterers significantly differing in the average value of Gamma distributed diameters. Finally, the mixed model composed of thick and thin trabeculae modeled respectively by cylindrical and spherical scatterers was examined. The last selection resulted from the similarity found between scattering on small sphere and finite cylinder. Calculated echoes demonstrated the usefulness of the mixed model. Frequency dependence of backscattering coefficient agreed well with the experimentally determined dependences.

trabecular bone, scattering, bone model

Acoustical waves scattered in trabecular bone contain information about its microstructural properties. These properties may change on course of a disease. Standard ultrasonic examinations of bone (densitometry) are performed in transmission and does not provide complete information about bone strength. We have developed the bone ultrasonic scanner that enables measurements of the physical properties of trabecular bone microstructure. Thus the evaluation of bone properties using ultrasonic scanner may be essential for bone diseases diagnosis and treatment monitoring. This study presents application of the scanner operating at 1,5 MHz frequency for examination of trabecular bone (calcaneus). Backscattered data were collected and processed in order to obtain power backscattering coefficient (PBSC). Calculated values were compared to these published by several authors in order to verify ultrasonic scanner application as a tool for trabecular bone examination. This study is an approach towards developing a method for the investigation of scattering in trabecular bone that can potentially provide clinically useful information about bone strength and condition.

trabecular bone, bone scanner, osteoporosis

The pathological states of biological tissues are often connected with attenuation changes. Thus, information about attenuating properties of tissue is valuable for the physician and could be useful in ultrasonic diagnosis. We are currently developing a technique for parametric imaging of attenuation and we intend to apply it for in vivo characterization of tissue. The attenuation estimation method based on the echoes mean frequency hanges due to tissue attenuation dispersion is presented. The Doppler IQ technique was adopted to estimate the mean frequency directly from the raw RF data. The Singular Spectrum Analysis technique was used for the mean frequency trends extraction. These trends were converted into attenuation distribution and finally the parametric images were computed. In order to reduce variation of attenuation estimates the spatial compounding method was applied. Operation and accuracy of attenuation extracting procedure was verified by calculating the attenuation coefficient distribution using the data from the tissue phantom with uniform echogenicity but varying attenuation coefficient (DFS, Denmark).

tissue attenuation estimation, spatial compounding

Determination of attenuating properties of the tissue from the echoes of waves emitted by the focused transducer requires to compensate the echo signal for the effects of focusing. We propose the diffraction/focusing effects correcting (FC) technique that compensates focusing-induced mean frequency
shift (MFS) of the propagating pulse. The method corrects mean frequency estimates derived from echo pulses propagating in attenuating tissue with locally varying attenuation coefficient. The FC algorithm applies the diffraction correcting coefficients obtained experimentally from the probing pulses focused in water for assessing the expected values of MFS of pulses focused in attenuating tissue. The calculations involves the pulse ‘history’ that due to overall attenuation along the traveled path downshifts the pulse spectrum resulting in variation of the focusinginduced MFS obtained in water.

attenuation estimation, difraction correction, parametric imaging

This paper investigates the effect of ultrasound imaging transducer’s fractional bandwidth on the gain of the compressed echo signal for different spectral widths of the complementary Golay sequences (CGS). Two different bit lengths were investigated, specifically one and two cycles. Three transducers having fractional bandwidth of 25%, 58% and 80% and operating at frequencies 6 MHz, 4.4 MHz and 6 MHz, respectively were examined (one of the 6 MHz sources was made of composite material). The experimental results have shown that by increasing the code length, i.e. decreasing the bandwidth, the compressed echo amplitude could be enhanced. The smaller the bandwidth was the larger was the gain; the pulse-echo sensitivity of the echo amplitude increased by 1.88, 1.62 and 1.47, for 25%, 58% and 80% bandwidths, respectively. These results indicate that two cycles bit length excitation is more suitable for use with bandwidth limited commercially available imaging transducers. Further, the time resolution is retained for transducers with two cycles excitation providing the fractional bandwidth is lower than approximately 90%. The results of this work indicate that adjusting the code length allows signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) to be enhanced while using limited (less that 80%) bandwidth imaging transducers. Also, for such transducers two cycles excitation would not decrease the time resolution, obtained with ’conventional’ spike excitation. These results also indicate that CGS excitation could be successfully implemented with the existing, relatively narrow band imaging transducers without the need to use usually more expensive wide-band, composite ones.

ultrasound imaging, coded transmission, transducer badnwidth, Golay codes

Background: Monitoring of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in advanced breast cancer is crucial for assessing the effectiveness of the treatment and overall survival. The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of classical ultrasound (US) examination and quantitative ultrasound (QU) parameters to predict the therapy response comparing to histology results after surgical treatment. Material and Methods: Two ultrasound backscatter parameters: the integrated backscatter coefficient, (IBSC) and shape parameter (M) of the homodyned K distribution, were estimated from ultrasonic radiofrequency (RF) signals. Sixteen patient with 22 breast cancer tumor treated with NAC sequential Anthracyclines and Taxanes were prospectively assessed. Data were acquired using 5–14 MHz array transducer, pre-chemotherapy, and four times during treatment (one week after the subsequent courses). The US results were compared with histological response analyzing the stromal changes and the cellularity of the tumor. Results: An increase in IBSC and decrease M parameters was observed in 80% of tumors with complete response after chemotherapy. It correlates with increasing the stromal elements, fibrosis, and elastosis. In patients with partial response, the parameters IBSC and M parameters did not change during subsequent cycles of treatment and allow predicting partial response in 70% of tumors. In pathological results, a similar cluster of cells without fibrosis and elastosis were observed. Conclusions: Ultrasound parameters derived from the RF data give the promise to predict the tumor response to NAC and better personalize the therapy using US QU examination. This study was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland, grant 2016/23/B/ST8/03391. No conflict of interest

We used 7 types of samples, ”pure agar-gel” sample (AG), agar-gel doped with graphite micro-particles (GMP), agar-gel doped with magnetic micro-particles (MMP) and agar-gel doped with magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) with every doping in two different proportion of ingredients, namely of weigh percentage of 0.8 and 1.6 of the added particles. In the series of experiments we registered RF echoes of backscattered signals emitted by single-element transducer with focus posed on the metal reflector and in the focus posed inside the samples. From this data the speed of sound, the frequency dependent attenuation and backscatternig coefficient were obtained for every sample. Additionally, densities of sample materials were determined, and the elasticity coefficient and acoustical impedance of every material were calculated under the assumption of linear propagation. From the differences between attenuation and scattering the estimation of absorption were performed. The measurements demonstrated that adding the nanoparticles increased the density of the material compare to adding microparticles made from the same magnetic material. The elasticity coefficient and impedance are proportional to the fraction of particles and the elasticity of phantom components. The most interesting conclusion concerns in comparison of difference in ultrasonic absorption. The absorption of agar-gel with NMP exhibited the largest value in between all studied cases. This allows us to assume that the local heating of the medium by the ultrasonic beam should be more efficient in this case, and dopes of iron oxide nanoparticles can be considered as ”sono-sensitizers” in performing ultrasonic hyperthermia. It is worth noting, that this result was independently confirmed by the measuring of temperature rise during the heating of phantoms by the focused ultrasound beams of different powers. This result is presented in another paper at this conference.

attenuation estimation, parametric imaging

The scattering is the fundamental phenomena used for US imaging of specific organs. In this study the method searching for best fitted statistical distribution of the acquired echoes from the breast tissue is discussed, especially addressing the ‘‘effective’’ number of scatterers. The aim of the study was finding the relationship between the specific properties of statistics of envelope of the ultrasonic echoes backscattered in the breast tissue in vivo, and its morphological properties for normal tissue and the pathological lesions.
Methods: 72 patients with 83 suspicious breast lesions (BIRADS 3, 4, 5) were examined. The analysis method was based on the parametric imaging representing a map of local statistical properties of the scattering of ultrasound waves in normal and pathological tissues. Both, the RF echo-signal and B-mode images from the lesions and surrounding tissue were recorded. The statistics of backscattered speckle-like echoes envelopes were modelled using K and Nakagami distributions. For all lesions the set of sub-ROIs covering full lesion was chosen. The statistical analysis was done for every sub-ROI separately. The shape parameters were calculated including the compensation for TGC applied and for the attenuation.
Results: The evaluation of all 83 breasts lesions revealed 23 malignant and 60 benign lesions. Typically, both, shape parameters for malignant lesions were statistically larger than for surrounding tissue. On the other hand, the benign lesions revealed much larger variance of the parameters comparing to the surrounding and malignant tissue. The sensitivity and specificity of B-mode imaging with the cut-off points BIRADS-4a/4b were 93%, 86%. For K and Nakagami distributions obtained sensitivity and specificity were respectively 85% and 91%.
Conclusions: The quantitative measurements of the breast tissue backscattering statistical properties improve the specificity of B-mode examinations and can be helpful in the differentiation the character of the breast lesions. It was proved that the range of the shape parameters appears to be rather large and can not be interpreted without taking into account the corresponding values in the surrounding ‘‘normal’’ tissue.

breast cancer, ultrasound, RF echo-signal