Quantitative ultrasound characterization and comparison of healthy and malignant prostate cells

TL;DR

This study measures and compares ultrasound properties of healthy and cancerous prostate cells, revealing similar sound speeds but higher attenuation in cancerous cells, aiding in non-invasive diagnosis.

Contribution

It provides quantitative ultrasound parameters to distinguish healthy from malignant prostate cells, highlighting differences in attenuation.

Findings

Higher attenuation in cancerous cells.

Similar speed of sound in both cell types.

Potential for ultrasound-based prostate cancer diagnosis.

Abstract

Speed of sound and attenuation as a function of frequency between 2 and 18 MHz were measured and compared for a cancerous prostate cell line and a healthy prostate cell line. Speed of sound for the cancerous cells line was found to be 1521.4 $\pm$ 0.8~m/s, which was equivalent to the speed of sound for the healthy cell line of 1521.5 $\pm$ 0.6~m/s. The average attenuation coefficient was 0.091 $\pm$ 0.003 $\frac{\rm{dB}}{\rm{cm-MHz}}$ for the cancerous prostate cell line and 0.057 $\pm$ 0.003 $\frac{\rm{dB}}{\rm{cm-MHz}}$ for the healthy prostate cell line, showing a higher attenuation for the cancerous cell line.