Figure 1
(a) Evaluation of dynamic CEUS micro-vascularization of a malignant breast lesion after i.v. application of 2.4 ml ultrasound contrast media using external perfusion software VueBox. The VueBox screen is divided into four sections. Up left, the original CEUS image with the manually drawn Regions of Interest (ROI). Up right, the perfusion imaging with false colors showing hyperperfusion in red shades. Down left, the Time Intensity Curve analysis (TIC) of the Regions of Interest and down right the numeric values of the regions. The healthy breast tissue is taken as reference. Each perfusion parameter is calculated in an extra step. Case of a small malignant breast tumor. Contrast enhanced evaluation up to 60 s for PE. In parametric imaging irregular red and yellow false colors for tumor micro-vascularization, blue for the surrounding tissue. High and fast wash in and rapid wash out in time intensity curve analysis (TIC) as criteria for malignancy. (b) Same case of a malignant breast lesion with evaluation of wash in area under the curve (AUC). (c) Same case of a malignant breast lesion with evaluation of Rise Time (RT). Less differences are seen in parametric imaging compared to the surrounding tissue. (d) Same case of a malignant breast lesion with evaluation of Time to Peak (TTP), with hardly any differences in parametric imaging compared to the surrounding tissue.
