Method of characterizing tissue of a patient

Abstract

A method for characterizing tissue of a patient, including receiving acoustic data derived from the interaction between the tissue and the acoustic waves irradiating the tissue; generating a morphology rendering of the tissue from the acoustic data, in which the rendering represents at least one biomechanical property of the tissue; determining a prognostic parameter for a region of interest in the rendering, in which the prognostic parameter incorporates the biomechanical property; and analyzing the prognostic parameter to characterize the region of interest. In some embodiment, the method further includes introducing a contrast agent into the tissue; generating a set of enhanced morphology renderings of the tissue after introducing the contrast agent; determining an enhanced prognostic parameter from the enhanced morphology renderings; and analyzing the enhanced prognostic parameter.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A method of characterizing tissue of a breast of a subject, the method comprising:
 receiving acoustic data of the breast of the subject;   generating a rendering of at least a portion of the breast based on the received acoustic data;   determining at least one prognostic parameter for a region of interest in the rendering; and   characterizing tissue in the region of interest based on the at least one prognostic parameter.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the acoustic data comprises ultrasound data. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the rendering comprises a two-dimensional image. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the rendering comprises a three-dimensional image. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the rendering comprises an ultrasound image. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the ultrasound image is enhanced with the use of a contrast agent. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the rendering comprises a morphology rendering. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the rendering represents at least one biomechanical property of the tissue of the breast. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the at least one biomechanical property comprises one or more of acoustic reflectivity, acoustic attention, or acoustic speed. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the at least one biomechanical property comprises two or more of acoustic reflectivity, acoustic attention, or acoustic speed. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the rendering comprises a rendering merged from a first rendering based on a first biomechanical property and a second rendering based on a second biomechanical property different from the first biomechanical property. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one prognostic parameter comprises one or more of a volume average value of acoustic attenuation, a volume average value of acoustic speed, a reflection index characterizing margin sharpness, a margin sharpness parameter, a shape parameter, or an architecture parameter for the region of interest. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the at least one prognostic parameter comprises two or more of the volume average value of acoustic attenuation, the volume average value of acoustic speed, the reflection index characterizing margin sharpness, a margin sharpness parameter, a shape parameter, or an architecture parameter for the region of interest. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one prognostic parameter comprises the volume average value of acoustic speed for the region of interest. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the at least one prognostic parameter comprises the volume average value of acoustic speed for the region of interest in combination with a different prognostic parameter. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one prognostic parameter comprises the volume average value of acoustic attenuation for the region of interest. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one prognostic parameter comprises the reflection index characterizing margin sharpness for the region of interest. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the tissue in the region of interest is characterized as cancer, fibroadenoma, cyst, other benign, or unidentifiable. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the tissue in the region of interest is characterized with a predictive model. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein input for the predictive model comprises the at least one prognostic parameter. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the at least one prognostic parameter comprises one or more of acoustic reflection, acoustic attenuation, acoustic speed, margin sharpness, region shape, or region architecture. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the predictive model is based on a weighted combination of two or more of the acoustic reflection, acoustic attenuation, acoustic speed, margin sharpness, region shape, or region architecture. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the at least one prognostic parameter comprises acoustic speed. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the at least one prognostic parameter comprises the acoustic speed in combination with a different prognostic parameter. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the predictive model is based on a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. 
     
     
         27 . A system for characterizing tissue of a breast of a subject, the system comprising a processor and a memory including instructions for the processor to implement the method of  claim 2 .