High-frequency ultrasound study of tissue margins from breast conservation surgery: Preliminary results

A critical issue in breast conservation surgery (lumpectomy) for breast cancer treatment is ensuring the tissue surrounding the excised tumor, the margins, are cancer-free. In collaboration with the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, researchers from Utah Valley University are using high-frequency (HF) ultrasound to test the pathology of lumpectomy surgical margins. This preclinical study is a blind study which will involve 80 patients, approximately 320 specimens, and use traditional pathology as the “gold standard” for measuring the accuracy of the HF ultrasound method. Ultrasonic waveforms of margins were acquired at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital in pitch-catch and pulse-echo modes using 50-MHz transducers with 6.35 mm-diameter active elements. The data were analyzed to obtain ultrasonic parameters such as ultrasonic wavespeed, attenuation, and spectral peak density (the number of peaks and valleys in a HF ultrasonic spectral band). Preliminary results indicate variations in peak density between margin specimens and individual locations on specimens that are indicative of malignant and atypical breast pathologies. The objective of this paper is to search for trends in the data acquired to date to provide an assessment of reliability, stability, and robustness of the study.