Method and system for tissue imaging and analysis

摘要

A method for detecting abnormal tissue in a region of healthy tissue, comprising:;a) making a first measurement of ultrasound backscattered from the region;
b) heating the region, at least after the first measurement;c) making one or more additional measurements of ultrasound backscattered from the region after some or all of the heating; andd) analyzing the measurements to detect the abnormal tissue by finding one or both of differences in changes in temperature and differences in thermal expansion, caused by the heating, between the abnormal tissue and the healthy tissue.

主权项

1. A method for detecting a tissue surrounded by a different tissue in a region, the method comprising:
a) making a first measurement of ultrasound backscattered from the region; b) heating the region, at least after the first measurement, using incident ultrasound heating power, RF heating power or both, causing the temperature of each point in the region to rise by no more than 4 Celsius; c) making one or more additional measurements of ultrasound backscattered from the region after some or all of the heating; and d) analyzing the measurements, using uniformity of the incident heating power to detect the tissue by finding one or both of differences in changes in temperature and differences in thermal expansion, caused by the heating, between the tissue and the surrounding different tissue; wherein the region has a cross-section of at least 3 cm by 3 cm perpendicular to the direction of incidence of the power, and extends over a distance of at least 1 cm in the direction of incidence of the power.