Patent ID: 8100839

Claim:
A method comprising: (a) compressing a first breast of a patient in order to at least partially occlude blood flow to said breast; (b) at least partially relieving said compression, thereby allowing at least partial resumption of blood flow to the breast; (c) detecting sounds generated by the resumption of blood flow to the breast; (d) optionally repeating each of said steps (a)-(c) with respect to said patient's contralateral breast; (e) comparing said detected sounds from said first breast, said contralateral breast, or both to comparable data from one or more subjects in which a disease or condition was known to be absent, known to be present, or both; and, (f) correlating said comparison to the presence or absence of said disease or condition in said patient, the stage of said disease or condition in said patient, or the response of said disease or condition in said patient to a therapy regimen.