CenSSIS: Acoustics Group at Boston University Elastic Modulus Imaging (EMI)

About 2/3 of all breast cancers dedected in the US are first detected by manual palpation (Reeves, et al., 1995).  That is, a hard lump is felt by either the patient herself (55%) or her physician (10%) during a clinical breast examination.  The fact that diseased tissue has a stiffness that differs (often dramatically) from that of normal tissue provides the primary motivation for this project.

The goal of this project is to develop a technique that shows directly the elastic (shear) modulus distribution in soft tissue.  The features of our technique include:
    1) Quantitative predictions of the shear modulus.
    2) Mathematically guaranteed unique inversion.
    3) Data collection in a manner that dovetails into current clinical procedures.
    4) Fast direct inversion processing methods, gives results in seconds to minutes.

Investigators:
Paul E. Barbone, Center for Biodynamics, Dept. of Aero & Mech Eng, Boston University
Jeffrey C. Bamber, Dept. of Physics, Royal Marsden Hospital and Inst. of Cancer Research, UK