MRI Assessment of the Viscoelastic Properties of Normal and Abnormal Breast Tissue
Abstract
The biomechanical properties of breast tissue represent an attractive property by which to detect disease and aid in differentiation between normal and benign breast tissues. Objective measurements of breast tissue biomechanical properties have been attempted in the past based on ex-vivo tissue samples. While these studies indicate large variations in breast tissue elastic modulus among various breast tissues, these data are subject to sampling errors arising from tissue heterogeneity within the tissue samples and potential differences arising from ex-vivo conditions. In this project, we aim to study these properties with an MRI method, both in-vitro and in-vivo, and assess the biomechanical properties of fat, fibroglandular and cancerous breast tissues. During our first year of funding, we have initiated the development of two uni-axial loading systems, an MRI-based imaging approach and a table-top system, for more conventional uni-axial loading measurements. In addition, we developed various inverse solution algorithms for reconstruction of elastic modulus derived from strain data acquired by MRI data. Finally, we optimized a software system for meshing that takes MRI breast images and converts them to a suitable mesh for finite element deformation analysis.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA385526
Entities
People
- Donald B. Plewes