Color and Power Doppler Imaging for Measuring Microvessel Density in Breast Tumors

摘要

Ultrasound images were acquired from 71 patients with 80 suspicious masses. Images of 68 masses and tissue samples from 31 patients were analyzed for microvascularity. The vascularity of each mass was characterized using six different measurements representing red blood cell density, mean flow velocity, area of perfusion, blood volume, and blood flow. The measurements were made over the entire mass and also regionally. By every measure used the malignant masses were found to be more vascular than the benign lesions. The use of vascularity with grayscale ultrasound imaging increased the confidence in diagnosis. However, a notable overlap between the values of vascularity was observed for the benign and malignant groups on an individual case basis. The regional measurements showed center of the malignant masses to be less vascular than the periphery, whereas the benign masses had fairly uniform distribution. We believe that the gradient in vascularity is a measure of aggressiveness of the tumor growth, and provides information on the supply and demand requirements of tumor. The project has been successfully completed and the quantitative scheme of measuring vascularity that this research has generated should allow differential diagnosis with higher confidence, and permit an objective evaluation of tumor response to treatments in patients.