Patent ID: 8496586
Filing Date: 2013-07-30
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
1. A system for ultrasound examination of an upwardly facing breast of a supine patient, comprising: a support and a compression/scanning module supported thereby and configured to move under hand control of an operator from a non-scanning position above the supine patient and out of contact with the supine patient's breast to a scanning position upon the supine patient and in contact with the breast, the compression/scanning module comprising: (i) a housing member supported by the support and shaped for said hand control of the compression/scanning module by the operator, said housing member having a lower opening; (ii) an ultrasound transducer movably disposed within said housing member; (iii) an ultrasonically transparent compressive membrane secured across said lower opening in said housing member, said membrane and said housing member forming a general enclosure within which said ultrasound transducer is movably maintained, said compressive membrane being positioned to contact the breast and compress the breast in a chestward direction when the compression/scanning module is in said scanning position; and (iv) an actuator disposed within said housing member and coupled to the ultrasound transducer and configured, when the compression/scanning module is in said scanning position, to translate the ultrasound transducer across the compressive membrane, said ultrasound transducer thereby scanning the chestwardly compressed breast through said membrane to acquire image data representative of a three-dimensional data volume of a sonographic property of the chestwardly compressed breast; wherein said housing member and said membrane are each optically transparent at locations thereon sufficient for the operator to visually observe a skin surface of the chestwardly compressed breast, including a nipple location thereon, through the housing member and through the membrane when the compression/scanning module is in said scanning position; a processor configured to receive and process the image data representative of the three-dimensional data volume to generate therefrom (a) a plurality of two-dimensional coronal ultrasound images, each coronal ultrasound image representing said sonographic property of the chestwardly compressed breast along one of a slice and slab subvolume thereof substantially parallel to a coronal plane of the patient, and (b) a plurality of two-dimensional axial ultrasound images, each axial ultrasound image representing said sonographic property of the chestwardly compressed breast along one of a slice and slab subvolume thereof substantially parallel to an axial plane of the patient; and a computerized display configured to receive and selectively display said coronal ultrasound images and said axial ultrasound images; wherein said processor is further configured to receive information indicative of said nipple location as visually observed and indicated by the operator with said compression/scanning module in said scanning position and to process said information indicative of the nipple location in conjunction with said image data representative of the three-dimensional data volume to determine a nipple location corresponding to each of said coronal ultrasound images; and wherein said computerized display is further configured to display a nipple marker with each said coronal ultrasound image at said determined nipple location thereon.