Computer model of mechanical imaging acquisition for virtual clinical trials

Malignant breast tumours can be distinguished from benign lesions and normal tissue based on their mechanical properties. Our pilot studies have demonstrated the potential of using Mechanical Imaging (MI) combined with mammography to reduce recalls and false positives in breast cancer screening by more accurately identifying benign lesions. To enable further optimization of MI we propose a computer simulation of the MI acquisition, for use in a Virtual Clinical Trial (VCT) framework. VCTs are computer simulated clinical trials used to efficiently evaluate clinical imaging systems. A linear elastic finite element (FE) model of the breast under dynamic compression was implemented using an open-source FE solver. A spherical tumour (15 mm in diameter) was inserted into the simulated predominantly adipose breast. The location and stiffness of the tumour was varied. The average stress on the compressed breast surface was calculated and compared with the local average stress at the tumour location and the Relative Mean Pressure over lesion Area (RMPA) was calculated. Preliminary results were within a realistic range with an average stress on the breast (tumour) of 5.9-16.6 kPa which is in agreement with published values between 1.0 - 22.5 kPa. This corresponds to RMPA values of 0.96-2.15 depending on stiffness and location of the tumour. This can lead to more detailed validation of various MI acquisition schemes through VCTs before their use in clinical studies.