Ultrasound plays an important role in helping diagnose prostate cancer as part of Ultrasound Guided Biopsies; however by better characterizing normal and cancerous prostate cells - and not the actual tumor- this study enhances ultrasound as a first-hand diagnostic tool.
Using quantitative ultrasound, normal and cancerous prostate cells were analyzed and compared. Experiments to determine tissue characteristics were performed using single element transducers ranging from 5-50 MHz. Measurements of speed of sound, attenuation, and backscatter coefficients were made. The current results present a valuable insight on the differences between benign and malignant formations by analyzing them at the cellular level. Analysis of cellular behavior at smaller scales provides significant information for better understanding the properties of tumors at a larger scale. These findings contribute to enhance tissue characterization. Moreover, the results obtained present relevant data regarding speed of sound, attenuation, and backscatter coefficients useful for comparative studies and further analysis.
Written by:
Rodriguez YJ, Daniels AR, Mahajan AD, Herd MT. Are you the author?
Physics, Earlham College, 801 National Road West, Richmond, IN 47374
Reference:J Acoust Soc Am. 2012 Sep;132(3):1987.
PubMed Abstract
PMID:22979418 [PubMed - in process]
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