The ultrasonic pattern-based acoustic characteristics research of normal mammary gland parenchyma

Objective To analyze the acoustic characteristics of mammary gland parenchyma in different ultrasonic patternsusing virtual touch tissues quantification (VTQ). Methods Totally 207 cases were collected from October to December 2014 in Beijing Army General Hospital, to investigate the differences of shear wave velocity (SWV) value with ultrasonic patterns, ages and thickness of mammary glands through the VTQ technology. Results Mammary gland parenchyma SWV value was significantly different in different ultrasonic patterns (F=209.341, P 0.05). Conclutions VTQ technique can evaluated breast density objectively. And quantitative analysis of mammary glands showed that ultrasonic patterns can reflects the structural feature of mammary glands parenchyma. SWV value and breast density was largest in dense type, lowest in,inhomogeneous type , and intermediate in mixture type and duct type. There was no relationship between mammary gland thickness and breast density. Key words: Mammary glands; Human; Ultrasonography; Elasticity imaging techniques