QUANTIFICATION OF TUMOR ACTIVITY WITH A DUAL-MODALITY ULTRASONIC AND MOLECULAR BREAST IMAGING SYSTEM

摘要

A system and method of quantifying uptake of radionuclide by tumor with the use of an MBI system equipped with an ultrasound unit. The quantification is effectuated based on comparison a first photon count (determined from an MBI image of a region of interest encompassing both the tumor and background tissue of the sample) and a second photon count (determined from an MBI image of a region of a substantially co-extensive region of interest that encompasses only background tissue and is devoid of tumor), and based on the values of depth of tumor and its size determined from the ultrasound imaging data.

主权项

1. A molecular breast imaging (MBI) system comprising:
a support structure having a surface dimensioned to support a breast in operation; a first detector head operably coupled to the support structure and including:
a first gamma ray detector on the support structure and extending to define a first imaging plane;a first collimator extending substantially coplanar with the first imaging plane in radiant communication with the first gamma ray detector; an ultrasound paddle having an ultrasound transceiver therein, the ultrasound paddle attached to the support structure and rotatable about an axis to enable, in operation, compression of the breast between the ultrasound paddle and the first detector head ; and a processor programmed to
acquire, from the first detector head, MBI imaging data representing an MBI image of a region of the breast containing a tumor tissue, the breast having received a radionuclide;acquire, from the ultrasound transceiver, ultrasound imaging data representing an ultrasound image of the region of the breast to determine depth and size of the tumor tissue;determine a first photon count corresponding to a first region of interest (ROI) from the MBI image, wherein the first ROI is defined to circumscribe an image of the tumor tissue;determine a second photon count corresponding to a second ROI from the MBI image, the second photon count associated with a background portion of the MBI image that is devoid of the image of the tumor tissue;calculate ratio of a first value of radionuclide uptake by the tumor tissue to a second value of radionuclide uptake by a background breast tissue that is devoid of tumor tissue based on the first and second photon counts, and depth and size of the tumor tissuewherein the depth and size of the tumor tissue are obtained from the ultrasound imaging data.