Benign in vivo breast tumor fibroadenoma

1
Benign in vivo breast tumor (fibroadenoma)
Sonogram Elastogram
Malignant in vivo breast tumor (invasive ductal
carcinoma) Sonogram
Elastogram
2
Sonograms and corresponding elastograms of benign
and malignant tumors of the female breast in
vivo. The elastograms were generated using a
compression of approximately 1. Black denotes
stiffer and white denotes softer tissue,
respectively. Not only do elastograms provide for
better detection of both tumors but also
comparison of the two types of images leads to
possible differentiation between benign and
malignant. Benign fibroadenomas generally have
smooth regular borders and their measured
transverse diameter on elastograms is almost
always the same or smaller than their diameter on
sonography (upper panel). The transverse diameter
of cancers is generally larger on elastograms
than on sonograms (lower panel). This is most
likely due to the firm desmoplastic reaction
surrounding cancers being included as part of the
tumor measurement in elastography. Using the
combination of tumor measured relative stiffness
and the difference between the sonographic and
elastographic tumor measured diameter, the
differentiation of benign versus malignant tumors
has been shown possible. (Image courtesy of Elisa
Konofagou, Brian Garra and Jonathan Ophir,
University of Texas Medical School Houston and
University of Vermont).