Development of an anthropomorphic breast phantom for combined PETm B-mode ultrasound and elastographic imaging

Combining the advantages of different imaging modalities elads to improved clinical results. For example, ultrasound provides good real-time structural information without any radiation and PET provides sensitive functional information. For the ongoing ClearPEM-Sonic project combining ultrasound and PET for breast imaging, we developed a dual-modality PET/ultrasound (US) phantom. The phantom reproduces the acoustic and elastic properties of human breast tissue and allows labeling the different tissues in the phantom with different concentrations of FDG. The pahntom was imaged with a whole-body PET/CT and with the Supersonic Imagine Aixplorer system. This system allows both B-mode US and shear wave elastopgraphic imaging. US elastography is a new imaging method for displaying the tissue elasticity distribution. It was shown to be useful in breast imaging. We also tested the pantom with static elastography. A 6D magnetic positioning system allows fusing the images obtained with the two modalities. Clear PEM-Sonic is a project of the Crystal Clear Collaboration and the European Centre for Research on Medical Imaging (CERIMED).

Publication year:2011

Keywords:Breast, Elastography, PET