International Workshop on Medical Ultrasound Tomography

A simple method for acoustic properties determination of cancerous tissue and its implementation into the clinical workflow

Nov 3, 2017, 3:00 PM

20m

Lecture Hall

Oral Main Track Session 11: Clinical application III

Speaker

Frank Wolfram (Lung Cancer Centre SRH Waldklinikum Gera)

Description

During USCT examination, tissue morphology, as well as acoustic properties such as speed of sound are extracted. Data based upon malignant tissue is limited, so is its reliability as a prognostic factor indicating a malignant or benign nature. It’s hard to obtain tumour tissue because of their pathological use for staging. Therefore, this work will present a simple method of acoustic properties measurement and its implementation in a clinical workflow.

(2) Material and Methods

A broadband – dual immersion technique was used to determine speed of sound and attenuation of malignant and benign Lung Cancer. Tumour were resected during surgery containing Adeno-, Squamous Carcinoma and Benign as well as metastatic tissue from breast and colon carcinoma. Measurements were performed after resection before fixation and histological staining. A clinical workflow was implemented that didn’t interfere with the pathological procedures. Additionally, a literature study was performed to compare the determined properties with published data.

(3) Results

All cancer types had higher speed of sound (1560–1670 m/s) than water. The speed of sound was higher in malignant tissue than in benign. Impedance was highest for squamous carcinoma (1.88 MRayl). Attenuation varied between 0,31 – 0,8 dB/cm/MHz and showed no significant difference between the histological subtypes. The proposed measurement technique could be implemented into the surgical - pathological workflow without disturbance of the histological management.

(4) Discussion and Conclusion

There exists comprehensive literature for acoustic properties from parenchymal, but a limited one for cancerous tissue. Measurements revealed that malignant tissue has higher speed of sound than benign tissue and might therefore be a valuable parameter for tissue classification in USCT. More work is demanded in order to determine acoustic properties from mammary tumours of different histological subtypes.