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Flash Ultrasound (2011-2012)

 

Evaluation of FLASH Ultrasound™ for Detection of Breast Cancer

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FLASH Ultrasound™ of known breast cancer
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Conventional Ultrasound of known breast cancer
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FLASH Ultrasound™ of a tumour
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Comventional Ultrasound of a tumour

This project was a collaboration between Medical Physics & Bioengineering University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, Innervision Medical Technologies Calgary, and North Bristol NHS Trust.

The objective of the clinical evaluation was to demonstrate the possibility of detecting breast cancer, prostate cancer and carotid artery disease using FLASH Ultrasound™ imaging and attribute analysis technology. FLASH Ultrasound™ imaging utilizes synthetic aperture ultrasound imaging technology to reconstruct images which are focused at all depths in both transmit and receive, allowing increased spatial and contrast image resolution compared to conventional ultrasound. The attribute analysis is based on techniques employed in Geophysics and Sonar in addition to recent advances in computational technology. By overlaying the attribute analysis on the FLASH Ultrasound™ images (similar to B-mode and Doppler in conventional ultrasound) this technology can provide additional information, such as speed of sound, to characterise tissue properties.

Scans were performed on a group of breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy, outpatients attending a Trans-rectal Ultrasound Clinic and patients with suspected carotid artery disease attending a Vascular Studies Unit. The results were compared with conventional images where possible and with clinical results.

The initial results have been encouraging. The simplest processing in the system is used to create the localizing scans enabling real-time visualization of the anatomy and pathology of interest. The imaging results of the more intensive processing algorithms agree with conventional scan results.  Processing for the attribute analysis to characterize particular tissue types has created some results which seem to be specific for diseases, especially in the case of breast and prostate pathologies.

FLASH™ Ultrasound imaging and attribute analysis technology has the potential for patients to benefit from: earlier detection of disease, improved management and reduced complications following treatment.

We are planning further studies to evaluate the potential for real-time FLASH Ultrasound™ and attribute analysis to identify prostate cancer, breast micro-calcification and carotid plaques by comparative studies with biopsy samples.

If the ability to detect micro-calcifications is proven then FLASH ultrasound™ guided biopsy would be less costly than the current method (stereotactic x-ray guided biopsy) and the biopsy could be incorporated into an initial diagnostic ultrasound scan, reducing time to treatment and cost.