ACOUSTIC RADIATION FORCE IMPULSE IMAGING WITH VIRTUAL TOUCH TISSUE QUANTIFICATION: MEASUREMENTS OF NORMAL BREAST TISSUE AND DEPENDENCE ON THE DEGREE OF PRE-COMPRESSION

Acoustic radiation force impulse imaging (ARFI) with Virtual Touch tissue quantification (VTTQ) enables the determination of shear wave velocity in meters per second (m/s). We investigated shear wave velocity in normal breast tissue and analyzed the influence of the degree of pre-compression on the measurements. In repeated measurements and with normal pre-compression, the mean shear wave velocity in breast parenchyma was significantly higher than that in breast adipose tissue (3.33 +/- 1.18 m/s vs. 2.90 +/- 1.10 m/s; p < 0.001; 712 measurements in 89 patients). Furthermore, we found a significant positive correlation between degree of pre-compression and velocity measurements. Shear wave velocities with low, moderate and high pre-compression were 1.89, 3.18 and 4.39 m/s in parenchyma, compared with 1.46, 2.55 and 3.64 m/s in adipose tissue, respectively (p < 0.001; 360 measurements in 60 patients). VTTQ of breast tissue is a feasible method with high accuracy; however, the degree of pre-compression applied may significantly influence the measurements. (E-mail: s@wojcinski.de) (C) 2013 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology.