Multi-parameter Sub-Hertz Analysis of Viscoelasticity With a Quality Metric for Differentiation of Breast Masses

• Published in: Ultrasound in medicine & biology Vol. 46; no. 12; pp. 3393 - 3403
• Main Authors: Bayat, Mahdi, Nabavizadeh, Alireza, Nayak, Rohit, Webb, Jeremy M., Gregory, Adriana V., Meixner, Duane D., Fazzio, Robert T., Insana, Michael F., Alizad, Azra, Fatemi, Mostafa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Inc 01.12.2020
• Subjects: Breast Diseases - diagnostic imaging; Breast lesion; Breast Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Creep; Diagnosis, Differential; Elasticity; Elasticity Imaging Techniques - methods; Female; Humans; Middle Aged; Radiology; Retardation time; Ultrasound; Viscoelasticity; Viscosity; Viscoelasticity; Retardation time; Creep; Ultrasound; Breast lesion
• ISSN: 0301-5629; 1879-291X; 1879-291X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2020.08.004

We applied sub-Hertz analysis of viscoelasticity (SAVE) to differentiate breast masses in pre-biopsy patients. Tissue response during external ramp-and-hold stress was ultrasonically detected. Displacements were used to acquire tissue viscoelastic parameters. The fast instantaneous response and slow creep-like deformations were modeled as the response of a linear standard solid from which viscoelastic parameters were estimated. These parameters were used in a multi-variable classification framework to differentiate malignant from benign masses identified by pathology. When employing all viscoelasticity parameters, SAVE resulted in 71.43% accuracy in differentiating lesions. When combined with ultrasound features and lesion size, accuracy was 82.24%. Adding a quality metric based on uniaxial motion increased the accuracy to 81.25%. When all three were combined with SAVE, accuracy was 91.3%. These results confirm the utility of SAVE as a robust ultrasound-based diagnostic tool for non-invasive differentiation of breast masses when used as stand-alone biomarkers or in conjunction with ultrasonic features.