Patient‐specific visco‐hyperelastic mechanical model for breast tumor localization in surgical planning

Abstract

Breast‐conserving surgery is typically performed with the patient in a supine position, whereas preoperative diagnostic MRI breast images are obtained with the patient in a prone position. The change in patient positioning causes significant large deformations, requiring preoperative localization of the detected lesions. Developing an individual‐specific breast biomechanical model capable of simulating these deformations remains challenging yet highly desirable. This study presents a novel approach that combines finite element analysis with the optimization of mechanical properties of breast tissues, using only surface information to construct a personalized deformation model of the breast. A visco‐hyperelastic model is employed to characterize the stress–strain relationship of breast tissue. The proposed method has been tested on 15 cases of breast cancer and achieves a tumor localization error of 8.12 ± 4.15 mm. The results show that this approach provides an accurate and realistic estimation of large breast tissue deformations and yields smaller tumor localization errors compared to previously reported methods.