Breast Cancer is completely curable if detected in the early stage.  Identifying early malignant non-palpable breast lesions is a real challenge for the physician during breast cancer screening.

The preliminary result of a new study, published in the journal ‘Academic Radiology’, suggests that viscoelastic strain imaging parameters help to distinguish between benign and malignant breast tissue.

Viscoelastic features describe mechanical properties of tissues. In the study, the Viscoelastic parameters were extracted from a time sequence of ultrasonic strain images. Parametric data were color coded and superimposed on sonograms. Twenty-one patients with nonpalpable, pathology-confirmed Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BIRADS) 4 or 5 breast lesions (10 benign, 11 malignant) detected by mammography were studied. The viscoelastic parameters of the benign and malignant lesions were compared.

Results of the study indicate that strain reterdance time parameter(T1) is the finest parameter to distinguish benign and malignant tissue. It is the time required for the tissue to deform once compressed. Compared to the surrounding background tissues, malignant lesions have smaller average T1 values, whereas benign lesions have higher T1 values.

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