New Ultrasound Technology Finds Cancer at an Early Stage

A method that transmits new and more sophisticated ultrasound signals is being tested in Norway. With this new technology, the chances of discovering and diagnosing tumors in the prostate and breast are expected to improve significantly.

The first clinical testing has been conducted, and the results so far are promising, according to Dr. Rune Hansen, a researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU; Trondheim, Norway). The ultrasound images that are processed using current methods are often strongly hampered by a kind of noise that originates from sound signals that move back and forth between reflectors that are dissimilar in strength. In technical terms, this is called ‘multiple echo' or ‘reverberations.' This is particularly a problem when the signal is being sent through the ‘body wall' to image internal organs in the body. The sound signals will ricochet back and forth between layers of fat, muscles, and connective tissue in the body wall, and this results in hazy ultrasound images.

The new method that is being processed is far more detailed, and it will be possible to separate details in parts of the body such as the liver, prostate, and breast. This makes it easier to discover changes in body tissue, and the chance of discovering cancerous tumors at an early stage will increase significantly.

In addition to giving more detailed images of body tissue, the new ultrasound method is also much better at discovering and reading contrast agents. Such contrast media are given intravenously and this makes perfusion-imaging possible in organs that are suspected of being cancerous. Tumors generate their own veins to obtain sufficient oxygen and nutrients so they are able to grow. This method has the potential to discover these changes in microcirculation much earlier than at present, according to Dr. Hansen.

Three forms of cancer where the new method will make it possible to discover tumors at an earlier stage are prostate, breast, and thyroid gland cancers. Another area of application includes diagnoses of cardiovascular diseases such as heart disease and plaque or stenoses or aneurism in large arteries.

The newly developed method has been given the name ‘SURF imaging' (second order UltRasound Field imaging). When one applies the traditional method, an imaging pulse is inserted, and the subsequent ‘echo' that is heard is the basis of the ultrasound image. The important new factor is that the imaging pulse is accompanied by another signal.

Dr. Rune Hansen is a part of a team under Prof. Bjørn Angelsen, who is one of the pioneers in ultrasound research in Trondheim. Prof. Angelsen hopes that the method will be ready for normal use on the first patients in about one year's time.


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Norwegian University of Science and Technology