Image alignment of tomographic prone and supine breast images V1.3
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Image alignment of tomographic three dimensional prone and supine breast images using biomechanically informed image registration
IRAS ID
128069
Contact name
Mohammed Keshtgar
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Joint Research Office, University College London
Research summary
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the Western world. One in nine women in the UK will develop this disease in her lifetime. Screening programs allow early detection of calcifications and masses which in turn lead to increasing numbers in breast conserving treatments and improved long time survival rates.
Dynamic Contrast Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DCE-MRI) is an important three dimensional imaging modality to visualise and measure the shape, size and location of a tumour. This information could be useful for the surgeon during surgery to achieve safe excision margins. However, during image acquisition the patient is lying on her front (prone position) with the breasts freely pendulous in a dedicated scanner coil, whereas during surgery the patient is lying on her back (supine position). As the breast is a very soft organ it undergoes significant shape changes when the patient position is changed from prone to supine.
To ultimately present the surgeon with pre-surgical image data for better planning and navigation we are building biomechanical computer models to simulate the shape change of the breast from one patient position to the other.
To achieve our goal we depend on three dimensional (3D) image data of the same patient which was acquired in the different positions mentioned. Certain patients receive a pre-surgical MRI (prone) as well as a post-surgical Computed Tomography (CT) scan (supine) as part of their standard clinical work-up. With access to this data we could develop and validate biomechanical modelling techniques. To simulate the change of patient positioning we would focus on the healthy breast which is not affected by the surgical intervention to have a set-up comparable to the envisaged application scenario.
REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/LO/1209
Date of REC Opinion
30 Jul 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion