# An automated-whole-breast ultrasound and electrical impedance tomography system for improved breast cancer imaging

> **NIH NIH R03** · DARTMOUTH COLLEGE · 2020 · $80,314

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Breast cancer is the 2nd most common cancer among American women, roughly 1 in 8 women will develop breast
cancer, and ultimately about 1 in 36 women will die of the disease. Mammographic screening is a vital tool in
detecting cancer early, but particularly for women with dense breasts (~50% of women) it is significantly less
effective. Currently 31 out of 50 states require informing women of their breast density, which implies an
increased risk of cancer, reduced mammographic sensitivity, and likely no recommendation for further screening.
Ultrasound is a supplemental screening technique that has good sensitivity in dense breasts, is inexpensive, and
is widely available, but unfortunately, it has high rates of false positives. Electrical impedance tomography (EIT)
is a second attractive modality that is low-cost and has shown promise for cancer detection and in differentiating
fibrocystic tissues from other tissues – which could aid ultrasound’s ability to distinguish cancer. In this project,
we aim to combine ultrasound and EIT to improve ultrasound’s ability to detect cancer. The technologies will be
combined using an automated whole breast ultrasound (AWB-US), which based on our recent studies should
significantly improve EIT’s accuracy by ensuring accurate control over the domain shape and incorporating
spatial data obtained from the ultrasound imaging. Thus a combined AWB-US/EIT system may significantly
reduce the number of false positives of AWB-US. A series of realistic, dense-breast phantoms will be used to
evaluate the system, and a small pilot study of five women will prepare us for a larger clinical study. The Specific
Aims of this project are to 1) Build an electrode array and walls into iVu Imaging’s AWB-US system so that the
AWB-US and EIT systems are integrated and 2) Perform a series of realistic, dense-breast phantom experiments
and collect data from 5 women with screen positive findings scheduled for biopsy. The women will be imaged
with the AWS-US/EIT system prior to a scheduled breast biopsy of a suspicious lesion, and in-vivo electrical
impedance measurements taken during the biopsy will provide ground-truth tissue conductivity values. Accuracy
of phantom and tissue conductivities from EIT imaging will be quantified and used to assess the accuracy of
AWB-US/EIT’s reconstructions – which should provide initial evidence that this combined system can reduce
false positives. Dartmouth’s previously developed EIT and US/EIT technology (including breast EIT systems);
expertise in EIT and medical applications, and close collaboration with Dartmouth’s medical center gives this
project a unique and strong opportunity for success. A positive end of this project will be a fully functional AWB-
US/EIT system that yields accurate reconstructions of lesion conductivities. This will put us in a great position to
administer a larger study to verify the potential this technology has to standard AWB-US imaging, and thus be an
importan...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9928426
- **Project number:** 5R03EB027224-02
- **Recipient organization:** DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
- **Principal Investigator:** Ethan K Murphy
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $80,314
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-06-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9928426

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9928426, An automated-whole-breast ultrasound and electrical impedance tomography system for improved breast cancer imaging (5R03EB027224-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9928426. Licensed CC0.

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