Non-invasive imaging of Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio in cancers in vivo

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel non-invasive ultrasound-based method to accurately image and quantify Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio in tumors and surrounding tissues in vivo, aiding cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Contribution

The paper presents a new technique for simultaneous reconstruction of YM and PR in vivo, independent of boundary conditions and tumor shape, validated through simulations, experiments, and a mouse model.

Findings

The method accurately reconstructs YM and PR in simulations.

It is robust across different boundary conditions and tumor shapes.

Validated in a mouse model demonstrating clinical feasibility.

Abstract

Objective: Alterations of Young's modulus (YM) and Poisson's ratio (PR) in biological tissues are often early indicators of the onset of pathological conditions. Knowledge of these parameters has been proven to be of great clinical significance for the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of cancers. Currently, however, there are no non-invasive modalities that can be used to image and quantify these parameters in vivo without assuming incompressibility of the tissue, an assumption that is rarely justified in human tissues. Methods: In this paper, we develop a new method to simultaneously reconstruct YM and PR of a tumor and of its surrounding tissues, irrespective of the boundary conditions and the shape of the tumor based on ellipsoidal approximation. This new non-invasive method allows the generation of high spatial resolution YM and PR maps from axial and lateral strain data obtained via ultrasound elastography. The method was validated using finite element (FE) simulations and controlled experiments performed on phantoms with known mechanical properties. The clinical feasibility of the developed method was also demonstrated in an orthotopic mouse model of breast cancer. Results: Our results from simulations and controlled experiments demonstrate that the proposed reconstruction technique is accurate and robust. Conclusion: Availability of the proposed technique could address the clinical need of a non-invasive modality capable of imaging, quantifying and monitoring the mechanical properties of tumors with high spatial resolution and in real time. Significance: This technique can have a significant impact on the clinical translation of elasticity imaging methods.