Large-Scale Propagation of Ultrasound in a 3-D Breast Model Based on High-Resolution MRI Data

Gheorghe Salahura, Jason C Tillett, Leon A Metlay, Robert C Waag
2010 IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering  
A 40 × 35 × 25-mm 3 specimen of human breast consisting mostly of fat and connective tissue was imaged using a 3-T magnetic resonance scanner. The resolutions in the image plane and in the orthogonal direction were 130 μm and 150 μm, respectively. Initial processing to prepare the data for segmentation consisted of contrast inversion, interpolation, and noise reduction. Noise reduction used a multilevel bidirectional median filter to preserve edges. The volume of data was segmented into regions
more » ... of fat and connective tissue by using a combination of local and global thresholding. Local thresholding was performed to preserve fine detail, while global thresholding was performed to minimize the interclass variance between voxels classified as background and voxels classified as object. After smoothing the data to avoid aliasing artifacts, the segmented data volume was visualized using iso-surfaces. The isosurfaces were enhanced using transparency, lighting, shading, reflectance, and animation. Computations of pulse propagation through the model illustrate its utility for the study of ultrasound aberration. The results show the feasibility of using the described combination of methods to demonstrate tissue morphology in a form that provides insight about the way ultrasound beams are aberrated in three dimensions by tissue.
doi:10.1109/tbme.2009.2040022 pmid:20172794 pmcid:PMC2910847 fatcat:thvucjca7fa5bixxs2p3tzx6me