|
A new
ultrasound technique can remotely "feel" breast
tissue and even find abnormalities that are deeper and smaller
than the 1-centermeter lesions that doctors can detect by
feel, according to researchers at Duke University Medical
Center.
Acoustic
Radiation Force Impulse (ARFI) imaging is based on the conventional
palpation technique doctors use to find breast lesions with
their fingers. The imaging gives information about the properties
of the breast tissue.
"It's
effectively like putting your fingertips inside of the breast
and pushing on a small region of about 1 to 2 millimeters,"
said Katheryn Nightingale, assistant research professor of
biomedical engineering.
The technology
uses a single ultrasound send-and-receive "transducer"
both to send different kinds of high frequency sound pulses
and to detect the resulting effects on tissues. A computer
converts the reflections from the tissue into images. The
ARFI technique was built on "streaming detection"
in which two kinds of ultrasound waves detect the presence
of fluid -- such as that in benign cysts -- by causing the
fluid to move.
The goal
for ARFI imaging of the breast is to be able to tell the difference
between benign solid lesions and malignant ones in order to
reduce the number of biopsies performed on benign breast abnormalities,
said Nightingale.
Source:
Breast Cancer
Week of April 14, 2002
|
HOME PAGE
