Quantification of the CARI breast imaging sensitivity by 2D/3D numerical time-domain ultrasound wave propagation

Breast imaging systems must recognize very small lesions at early stage of detection in order to save lives and reduce costs. The clinical amplitude–velocity reconstruction imaging (CARI), a recent breast imaging technique, is based on the differentiation of velocity and attenuation of ultrasound wave propagating through the breast tissues. Moreover, the method is experimentally verified to have higher sensitivity than conventional ultrasound. This work is concerned with the numerical study of the CARI technique using a finite element time domain (FETD) ultrasound wave propagation in the breast tissue. The mathematical method consists of a dissipative wave equation incorporating a frequency-dependent attenuation, and supplemented with initial and boundary conditions. The formulation used provides a good resolution of spatial features, and thus, simulations help in evaluating quantitatively the detection of small lesions in the breast. Three-dimensional (3D) simulations agree with the results obtained for the two-dimensional (2D) model although when the frequency is reduced. In addition, the study shows the effectiveness of the FETD to simulate the CARI modality. © 2004 IMACS. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.