Development of MRI‐based axillary numerical models and estimation of axillary lymph node dielectric properties for microwave imaging

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Godinho, Daniela M.
Data de Publicação: 2021
Outros Autores: Felício, João M., Castela, Tiago, Silva, Nuno A., Orvalho, Maria de Lurdes, Fernandes, Carlos A., Conceição, Raquel C.
Tipo de documento: Artigo
Idioma: eng
Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/51785
Resumo: Purpose: Microwave imaging (MWI) has been studied as a complementary imaging modality to improve sensitivity and specificity of diagnosis of axillary lymph nodes (ALNs), which can be metastasized by breast cancer. The feasibility of such a system is based on the dielectric contrast between healthy and metastasized ALNs. However, reliable information such as anatomically realistic numerical models and matching dielectric properties of the axillary region and ALNs, which are crucial to develop MWI systems, are still limited in the literature. The purpose of this work is to develop a methodology to infer dielectric properties of structures from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in particular, ALNs. We further use this methodology, which is tailored for structures farther away from MR coils, to create MRI- based numerical models of the axillary region and share them with the scientific community, through an open- access repository. Methods: We use a dataset of breast MRI scans of 40 patients, 15 of them with metastasized ALNs. We apply image processing techniques to minimize the artifacts in MR images and segment the tissues of interest. The background, lung cavity, and skin are segmented using thresholding techniques and the remaining tissues are segmented using a K- means clustering algorithm. The ALNs are segmented combining the clustering results of two MRI sequences. The performance of this methodology was evaluated using qualitative criteria. We then apply a piecewise linear interpolation between voxel signal intensities and known dielectric properties, which allow us to create dielectric property maps within an MRI and consequently infer ALN properties. Finally, we compare healthy and metastasized ALN dielectric properties within and between patients, and we create an open- access repository of numerical axillary region numerical models which can be used for electromagnetic simulations. Results: The proposed methodology allowed creating anatomically realistic models of the axillary region, segmenting 80 ALNs and analyzing the corresponding dielectric properties. The estimated relative permittivity of those ALNs ranged from 16.6 to 49.3 at 5 GHz. We observe there is a high variability of dielectric properties of ALNs, which can be mainly related to the ALN size and, consequently, its composition. We verified an average dielectric contrast of 29% between healthy and metastasized ALNs. Our repository comprises 10 numerical models of the axillary region, from five patients, with variable number of metastasized ALNs and body mass index. Conclusions: The observed contrast between healthy and metastasized ALNs is a good indicator for the feasibility of a MWI system aiming to diagnose ALNs. This paper presents new contributions regarding anatomical modeling and dielectric properties' characterization, in particular for axillary region applications.
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spelling Development of MRI‐based axillary numerical models and estimation of axillary lymph node dielectric properties for microwave imaginganthropomorphic modelsaxillary lymph nodesaxillary regionbreast cancerdielectric propertiesmagnetic resonance imagingmicrowave imagingPurpose: Microwave imaging (MWI) has been studied as a complementary imaging modality to improve sensitivity and specificity of diagnosis of axillary lymph nodes (ALNs), which can be metastasized by breast cancer. The feasibility of such a system is based on the dielectric contrast between healthy and metastasized ALNs. However, reliable information such as anatomically realistic numerical models and matching dielectric properties of the axillary region and ALNs, which are crucial to develop MWI systems, are still limited in the literature. The purpose of this work is to develop a methodology to infer dielectric properties of structures from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in particular, ALNs. We further use this methodology, which is tailored for structures farther away from MR coils, to create MRI- based numerical models of the axillary region and share them with the scientific community, through an open- access repository. Methods: We use a dataset of breast MRI scans of 40 patients, 15 of them with metastasized ALNs. We apply image processing techniques to minimize the artifacts in MR images and segment the tissues of interest. The background, lung cavity, and skin are segmented using thresholding techniques and the remaining tissues are segmented using a K- means clustering algorithm. The ALNs are segmented combining the clustering results of two MRI sequences. The performance of this methodology was evaluated using qualitative criteria. We then apply a piecewise linear interpolation between voxel signal intensities and known dielectric properties, which allow us to create dielectric property maps within an MRI and consequently infer ALN properties. Finally, we compare healthy and metastasized ALN dielectric properties within and between patients, and we create an open- access repository of numerical axillary region numerical models which can be used for electromagnetic simulations. Results: The proposed methodology allowed creating anatomically realistic models of the axillary region, segmenting 80 ALNs and analyzing the corresponding dielectric properties. The estimated relative permittivity of those ALNs ranged from 16.6 to 49.3 at 5 GHz. We observe there is a high variability of dielectric properties of ALNs, which can be mainly related to the ALN size and, consequently, its composition. We verified an average dielectric contrast of 29% between healthy and metastasized ALNs. Our repository comprises 10 numerical models of the axillary region, from five patients, with variable number of metastasized ALNs and body mass index. Conclusions: The observed contrast between healthy and metastasized ALNs is a good indicator for the feasibility of a MWI system aiming to diagnose ALNs. This paper presents new contributions regarding anatomical modeling and dielectric properties' characterization, in particular for axillary region applications.WileyRepositório da Universidade de LisboaGodinho, Daniela M.Felício, João M.Castela, TiagoSilva, Nuno A.Orvalho, Maria de LurdesFernandes, Carlos A.Conceição, Raquel C.2022-03-17T10:05:45Z20212021-01-01T00:00:00Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10451/51785eng10.1002/mp.15143info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2023-11-08T16:56:33Zoai:repositorio.ul.pt:10451/51785Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T22:02:56.531251Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Development of MRI‐based axillary numerical models and estimation of axillary lymph node dielectric properties for microwave imaging
title Development of MRI‐based axillary numerical models and estimation of axillary lymph node dielectric properties for microwave imaging
spellingShingle Development of MRI‐based axillary numerical models and estimation of axillary lymph node dielectric properties for microwave imaging
Godinho, Daniela M.
anthropomorphic models
axillary lymph nodes
axillary region
breast cancer
dielectric properties
magnetic resonance imaging
microwave imaging
title_short Development of MRI‐based axillary numerical models and estimation of axillary lymph node dielectric properties for microwave imaging
title_full Development of MRI‐based axillary numerical models and estimation of axillary lymph node dielectric properties for microwave imaging
title_fullStr Development of MRI‐based axillary numerical models and estimation of axillary lymph node dielectric properties for microwave imaging
title_full_unstemmed Development of MRI‐based axillary numerical models and estimation of axillary lymph node dielectric properties for microwave imaging
title_sort Development of MRI‐based axillary numerical models and estimation of axillary lymph node dielectric properties for microwave imaging
author Godinho, Daniela M.
author_facet Godinho, Daniela M.
Felício, João M.
Castela, Tiago
Silva, Nuno A.
Orvalho, Maria de Lurdes
Fernandes, Carlos A.
Conceição, Raquel C.
author_role author
author2 Felício, João M.
Castela, Tiago
Silva, Nuno A.
Orvalho, Maria de Lurdes
Fernandes, Carlos A.
Conceição, Raquel C.
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Godinho, Daniela M.
Felício, João M.
Castela, Tiago
Silva, Nuno A.
Orvalho, Maria de Lurdes
Fernandes, Carlos A.
Conceição, Raquel C.
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv anthropomorphic models
axillary lymph nodes
axillary region
breast cancer
dielectric properties
magnetic resonance imaging
microwave imaging
topic anthropomorphic models
axillary lymph nodes
axillary region
breast cancer
dielectric properties
magnetic resonance imaging
microwave imaging
description Purpose: Microwave imaging (MWI) has been studied as a complementary imaging modality to improve sensitivity and specificity of diagnosis of axillary lymph nodes (ALNs), which can be metastasized by breast cancer. The feasibility of such a system is based on the dielectric contrast between healthy and metastasized ALNs. However, reliable information such as anatomically realistic numerical models and matching dielectric properties of the axillary region and ALNs, which are crucial to develop MWI systems, are still limited in the literature. The purpose of this work is to develop a methodology to infer dielectric properties of structures from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in particular, ALNs. We further use this methodology, which is tailored for structures farther away from MR coils, to create MRI- based numerical models of the axillary region and share them with the scientific community, through an open- access repository. Methods: We use a dataset of breast MRI scans of 40 patients, 15 of them with metastasized ALNs. We apply image processing techniques to minimize the artifacts in MR images and segment the tissues of interest. The background, lung cavity, and skin are segmented using thresholding techniques and the remaining tissues are segmented using a K- means clustering algorithm. The ALNs are segmented combining the clustering results of two MRI sequences. The performance of this methodology was evaluated using qualitative criteria. We then apply a piecewise linear interpolation between voxel signal intensities and known dielectric properties, which allow us to create dielectric property maps within an MRI and consequently infer ALN properties. Finally, we compare healthy and metastasized ALN dielectric properties within and between patients, and we create an open- access repository of numerical axillary region numerical models which can be used for electromagnetic simulations. Results: The proposed methodology allowed creating anatomically realistic models of the axillary region, segmenting 80 ALNs and analyzing the corresponding dielectric properties. The estimated relative permittivity of those ALNs ranged from 16.6 to 49.3 at 5 GHz. We observe there is a high variability of dielectric properties of ALNs, which can be mainly related to the ALN size and, consequently, its composition. We verified an average dielectric contrast of 29% between healthy and metastasized ALNs. Our repository comprises 10 numerical models of the axillary region, from five patients, with variable number of metastasized ALNs and body mass index. Conclusions: The observed contrast between healthy and metastasized ALNs is a good indicator for the feasibility of a MWI system aiming to diagnose ALNs. This paper presents new contributions regarding anatomical modeling and dielectric properties' characterization, in particular for axillary region applications.
publishDate 2021
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2021
2021-01-01T00:00:00Z
2022-03-17T10:05:45Z
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10451/51785
url http://hdl.handle.net/10451/51785
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv 10.1002/mp.15143
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
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