The ability of ultrasonic tissue characterization to differentiate and classify benign and malignant breast tissues in vivo in patients with palpable breast masses and in vitro in excised breast tissue was evaluated. One-hundred and twenty-four in vivo and 89 in vitro studies were performed using a technique of UTC based on parameters from the power spectrum of backscattered echoes. Sensitivities and specificities for diagnosing carcinoma were 86 and 84% for in vivo studies and 94 and 92% for in vitro studies. These UTC parameters provided threshold values for color-coding breast lesion images. The results of this preliminary investigation suggest that UTC provides a basis for assessing more accurately lesions suspected of being malignant prior to biopsy and possibly for evaluating breast lesions noninvasively.
Quantitative microstructural sonography differs from conventional sonography in several ways. The frequency as well as the amplitude of echoes is recorded and assessed using spectral analysis techniques. The effects of diffraction of the ultrasound beam are calibrated, as are the transfer characteristics of the system. Studies of patients with alcoholic liver disease revealed significantly increased attenuation, heterogeneity of scatterers, and local scattering strength in those with severe disease; in contrast, patients with mild cirrhosis exhibited decreased local scattering strength compared to normal individuals. Using retrospective three-parameter discriminant analysis, 23 out of 24 patients were successfully categorized, suggesting that the parameters used were capable of measuring microstructural changes associated with these disease states. Parameters varied widely among 6 types of hepatic tumors, suggesting that this method may offer promise in distinguishing tumors from normal cases and alcoholic liver disease as well as from each other. Further applications and evaluation of this method appear justified.
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