Influence of density change on the detection of breast liposarcoma by magneto-acousto-electrical tomography

Abstract

Magneto-Acousto-Electrical Tomography (MAET) has the advantage of high spatial resolution and high image contrast and is expected to achieve early breast cancer diagnosis. At present, the density of biological tissue is usually assumed to be the density of water. The effect of density changes on the MAET signal has not been studied. Liposarcoma of the breast is a common malignant tumor. Unlike normal breast cancer which occurs in the gland, liposarcoma of the breast occurs in the fat of the breast. However, the fat density of the breast is widely distributed, which is different from that of liposarcoma. Therefore, it is very important to study the effect of density change on the MAET signals. In this paper, a finite element simulation model is established to consider the influence of density variation on the MAET signal. The simulation results show that an increase in density reduces the amplitude of the original MAET signal. The degree of reduction in signal amplitude is proportional to the increase in signal density. The simulation results are consistent with the theoretical analysis. Finally, the MAET experimental platform is built to validate the simulation results of MAET signals. The simulation and experiment results show that the change of density greatly influences the detection of breast liposarcoma based on MAET. It cannot be directly equivalent to the density of water. The results of this study indicate that MAET is expected to detect the early diagnosis of breast liposarcoma.