A Force-Matched Approach to Large-Strain Nonlinearity in Elasticity Imaging for Breast Lesion Characterization

Overview

Journal IEEE Trans Biomed Eng

Specialties Biomedical Engineering
Biophysics

Date 2023 Aug 17

PMID 37590110

Authors

David P Rosen

Rohit Nayak

Yuqi Wang

Daniel Gendin

Nicholas B Larson

Robert T Fazzio

Assad A Oberai

Timothy J Hall

Paul E Barbone

Azra Alizad

Mostafa Fatemi

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: Ultrasound elasticity imaging is a class of ultrasound techniques with applications that include the detection of malignancy in breast lesions. Although elasticity imaging traditionally assumes linear elasticity, the large strain elastic response of soft tissue is known to be nonlinear. This study evaluates the nonlinear response of breast lesions for the characterization of malignancy using force measurement and force-controlled compression during ultrasound imaging.

Methods: 54 patients were recruited for this study. A custom force-instrumented compression device was used to apply a controlled force during ultrasound imaging. Motion tracking derived strain was averaged over lesion or background ROIs and matched with compression force. The resulting force-matched strain was used for subsequent analysis and curve fitting.

Results: Greater median differences between malignant and benign lesions were observed at higher compressional forces (p-value < 0.05 for compressional forces of 2-6N). Of three candidate functions, a power law function produced the best fit to the force-matched strain. A statistically significant difference in the scaling parameter of the power function between malignant and benign lesions was observed (p-value = 0.025).

Conclusions: We observed a greater separation in average lesion strain between malignant and benign lesions at large compression forces and demonstrated the characterization of this nonlinear effect using a power law model. Using this model, we were able to differentiate between malignant and benign breast lesions.

Significance: With further development, the proposed method to utilize the nonlinear elastic response of breast tissue has the potential for improving non-invasive lesion characterization for potential malignancy.

References

Barr R, Nakashima K, Amy D, Cosgrove D, Farrokh A, Schafer F . WFUMB guidelines and recommendations for clinical use of ultrasound elastography: Part 2: breast. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2015; 41(5):1148-60. DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2015.03.008. View

Nabavizadeh A, Kinnick R, Bayat M, Amador C, Urban M, Alizad A . Automated Compression Device for Viscoelasticity Imaging. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2017; 64(7):1535-1546. PMC: 5485831. DOI: 10.1109/TBME.2016.2612541. View

Bayat M, Nabavizadeh A, Nayak R, Webb J, Gregory A, Meixner D . Multi-parameter Sub-Hertz Analysis of Viscoelasticity With a Quality Metric for Differentiation of Breast Masses. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2020; 46(12):3393-3403. PMC: 7606763. DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2020.08.004. View

Catheline S, Gennisson J, Fink M . Measurement of elastic nonlinearity of soft solid with transient elastography. J Acoust Soc Am. 2004; 114(6 Pt 1):3087-91. DOI: 10.1121/1.1610457. View

Bayat M, Nabavizadeh A, Kumar V, Gregory A, Insana M, Alizad A . Automated In Vivo Sub-Hertz Analysis of Viscoelasticity (SAVE) for Evaluation of Breast Lesions. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2018; 65(10):2237-2247. PMC: 6043422. DOI: 10.1109/TBME.2017.2787679. View

Latorre-Ossa H, Gennisson J, de Brosses E, Tanter M . Quantitative imaging of nonlinear shear modulus by combining static elastography and shear wave elastography. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2012; 59(4):833-9. DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2012.2262. View

Pesavento A, Perrey C, Krueger M, Ermert H . A time-efficient and accurate strain estimation concept for ultrasonic elastography using iterative phase zero estimation. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2008; 46(5):1057-67. DOI: 10.1109/58.796111. View

Skerl K, Eichhorn B, Poltorjanoks R, Cochran S, Evans A . Introduction of a Measurement Setup to Monitor the Pressure Applied During Handheld Ultrasound Elastography. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2020; 46(9):2556-2559. DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2020.04.017. View

Goswami S, Ahmed R, Doyley M, McAleavey S . Nonlinear Shear Modulus Estimation With Bi-Axial Motion Registered Local Strain. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2019; 66(8):1292-1303. PMC: 6684490. DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2019.2919600. View

10.

Gubarkova E, Sovetsky A, Matveev L, Matveyev A, Vorontsov D, Plekhanov A . Nonlinear Elasticity Assessment with Optical Coherence Elastography for High-Selectivity Differentiation of Breast Cancer Tissues. Materials (Basel). 2022; 15(9). PMC: 9099511. DOI: 10.3390/ma15093308. View

11.

Umemoto T, Ueno E, Matsumura T, Yamakawa M, Bando H, Mitake T . Ex vivo and in vivo assessment of the non-linearity of elasticity properties of breast tissues for quantitative strain elastography. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2014; 40(8):1755-68. DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2014.02.005. View

12.

Qiu Y, Sridhar M, Tsou J, Lindfors K, Insana M . Ultrasonic viscoelasticity imaging of nonpalpable breast tumors: preliminary results. Acad Radiol. 2008; 15(12):1526-33. PMC: 2605073. DOI: 10.1016/j.acra.2008.05.023. View

13.

Shiina T, Nightingale K, Palmeri M, Hall T, Bamber J, Barr R . WFUMB guidelines and recommendations for clinical use of ultrasound elastography: Part 1: basic principles and terminology. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2015; 41(5):1126-47. DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2015.03.009. View

14.

Wang Z, Liu Y, Wang G, Sun L . Elastography method for reconstruction of nonlinear breast tissue properties. Int J Biomed Imaging. 2009; 2009:406854. PMC: 2709722. DOI: 10.1155/2009/406854. View

15.

OHagan J, Samani A . Measurement of the hyperelastic properties of 44 pathological ex vivo breast tissue samples. Phys Med Biol. 2009; 54(8):2557-69. DOI: 10.1088/0031-9155/54/8/020. View

16.

Barr R, Zhang Z . Effects of precompression on elasticity imaging of the breast: development of a clinically useful semiquantitative method of precompression assessment. J Ultrasound Med. 2012; 31(6):895-902. DOI: 10.7863/jum.2012.31.6.895. View

17.

Oberai A, Gokhale N, Goenezen S, Barbone P, Hall T, Sommer A . Linear and nonlinear elasticity imaging of soft tissue in vivo: demonstration of feasibility. Phys Med Biol. 2009; 54(5):1191-207. PMC: 3326410. DOI: 10.1088/0031-9155/54/5/006. View

18.

Chammings F, Hangard C, Gennisson J, Reinhold C, Fournier L . Diagnostic Accuracy of Four Levels of Manual Compression Applied in Supersonic Shear Wave Elastography of the Breast. Acad Radiol. 2020; 28(4):481-486. DOI: 10.1016/j.acra.2020.03.012. View

19.

Huang R, Ogden R, Penta R . Mathematical Modelling of Residual-Stress Based Volumetric Growth in Soft Matter. J Elast. 2021; 145(1-2):223-241. PMC: 8550432. DOI: 10.1007/s10659-021-09834-8. View

20.

Rus G, Faris I, Torres J, Callejas A, Melchor J . Why Are Viscosity and Nonlinearity Bound to Make an Impact in Clinical Elastographic Diagnosis?. Sensors (Basel). 2020; 20(8). PMC: 7219338. DOI: 10.3390/s20082379. View