Abstract
We have developed a biomechanical model of the breast to simulate compression during mammographic imaging. The modelling framework was applied to a set of MR images of the breasts of a volunteer. Images of the uncompressed breast were segmented into skin and pectoral muscle, from which a finite element (FE) mesh of the left breast was generated using a nonlinear geometric fitting process. The compression plates within the breast MR coil were used to compress the volunteer’s breasts by 32% in the latero-medial direction and the compressed breasts were subsequently imaged using MRI. The FE geometry of the uncompressed left breast was used to numerically simulate compression based on finite deformation elasticity coupled with contact mechanics, and individual-specific tissue properties. Accuracy of the simulated FE model was analysed by comparing the predicted surface data, and locations of three internal features within the compressed breast, with the equivalent experimental observations. Model predictions of the surface deformation yielded a RMS error of 1.5 mm. The Euclidean errors in predicting the locations of three internal features were 4.1 mm, 4.1 mm and 6.5 mm. Whilst the model reliably reproduced the compressive deformation, further investigations are required in order to test the validity of the underlying modelling assumptions. A reliable biomechanical model will provide a multi-modality imaging registration tool to help identify potential tumours observed between mammograms and other imaging modalities such as MRI or ultrasound.
Keywords
- Pectoral Muscle
- Biomechanical Model
- Magnetic Resonance Mammography
- Simulated Finite Element Model
- Underlie Modelling Assumption
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Download to read the full chapter text
Chapter PDF
References
Sylvia, H.K., Dershaw, D., Schreer, I.: Diagnostic Breast Imaging: mammography, sonography, magnetic resonance imaging, and interventional procedures. 2 edn. Thieme, Stuttgart, New York (2001)
Rueckert, D., Sonoda, L., Hayes, D., Hill, D., Leach, M., Hawkes, D.: Nonrigid registration using free-form deformation: application to breast MR images. IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging 18, 712–721 (1999)
Azar, F., Metaxas, D., Schnall, M.: Methods for modeling and predicting mechanical deformations of the breast under external perturbations. Medical Image Analysis 6(1), 1–27 (2002)
Tanner, C., Schnabel, J.A., Hill, D.L.G., Hawkes, D., Leach, M.O., Hose, D.R.: Factors influencing the accuracy of biomedical breast models. Medical Physics 33(6), 1758–1769 (2006)
Ruiter, N.V.: Registration of X-ray Mammograms and MR-Volumes of the Female Breast based on Simulated Mammographic Deformation. PhD thesis, der Universitat Mannheim, Germany (2003)
Pathmanathan, P., Gavaghan, D., Whiteley, J., Brady, M., Nash, M.P., Nielsen, P.M., Rajagopal, V.: Predicting tumour location by simulating large deformations of the breast using a 3D finite element model and nonlinear elasticity. In: Barillot, C., Haynor, D.R., Hellier, P. (eds.) MICCAI 2004. LNCS, vol. 3217, pp. 217–224. Springer, Heidelberg (2004)
Samani, A., Bishop, J., Yaffe, M.J., Plewes, D.: Biomechanical 3-D finite element modeling of the human breast using MRI data. IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging 20(4), 271–279 (2001)
Chung, J.H., Rajagopal, V., Nielsen, P.M., Nash, M.P.: A biomechanical model of mammographic compressions. Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology 7(1), 43–52 (2008)
Chung, J.H., Rajagopal, V., Laursen, T.A., Nielsen, P.M., Nash, M.P.: Frictional contact mechanics methods for soft materials: application to tracking breast cancers. Journal of Biomechanics 41(1), 69–77 (2008)
Malur, S., Wurdinger, S., Moritz, A., Michels, W., Schneider, A.: Comparison of written reports of mammography, sonography and magnetic resonance mammography for preoperative evaluation of breast lesions, with special emphasis on magnetic resonance mammography. Breast Cancer Research 3(1), 55–60 (2001)
Nielsen, P.M.: The Anatomy of the Heart: A Finite Element Model. PhD thesis, The University of Auckland, New Zealand (1987)
Bradley, C.P., Pullan, A.J., Hunter, P.J.: Geometric modeling of the human torso using cubic Hermite elements. Annals of Biomedical Engineering 25, 96–111 (1997)
Bonet, J., Wood, R.D.: Nonlinear Continuum Mechanics for Finite Element Analysis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1997)
Laursen, T.A.: Computational Contact and Impact Mechanics. Springer, Berlin (2002)
Rajagopal, V., Lee, A., Chung, J.H., Warren, R., Highnam, R.P., Nielsen, P.M., Nash, M.P.: Towards tracking breast cancer across medical images using subject-specific biomechanical models. In: Ayache, N., Ourselin, S., Maeder, A. (eds.) MICCAI 2007, Part I. LNCS, vol. 4791, pp. 651–658. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)
Puso, M.A., Laursen, T.A.: A mortar segment-to-segment contact method for large deformation solid mechanics. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering 193(6-8), 601–629 (2004)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Chung, JH., Rajagopal, V., Nielsen, P.M.F., Nash, M.P. (2008). Modelling Mammographic Compression of the Breast. In: Metaxas, D., Axel, L., Fichtinger, G., Székely, G. (eds) Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention – MICCAI 2008. MICCAI 2008. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5242. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85990-1_91
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85990-1_91
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-85989-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-85990-1
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)