Graduation Year

2023

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Biological and Physical Sciences

Program or Major

Biology

Faculty Advisor

Maria-Teresa Herd

Abstract

Quantitative ultrasound is a promising alternative method for cancer diagnosis that is non-invasive and cost-effective. This experiment investigated the potential of quantitative ultrasound in diagnosing and differentiating breast and cervical cancer. Using HeLa cells and MDA cells, the speed of sound and attenuation was measured using 5, 10, and 15 MHz transducers. It was found that the speed of sound of the MDA and HeLa cells did not deviate much, with values of 1527.6±3.1 m/s and 1527.5±3.9 m/s, respectively, but the attenuation of the MDA and HeLa did vary, though error in the experiment leaves this conclusion up for debate. Lack of variation in the speed of sound could have been due to the similar densities of the cell pellets as well as similar cancerous morphologies of the cells. The difference in attenuation was likely due to increased interference from the MDA cells due to unique mutations. Overall, additional experiments need to be done to finalize the attenuation conclusions. In addition, it must be explored if other ultrasonic characteristics can be used to differentiate between the cells and other cell lines or cancer types must be used to further investigate the potential of quantitative ultrasound.

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