Patent ID: 7124760

Claim:
A method for localizing a lesion in a breast, comprising the steps of: a) drawing a cranial caudal (CC) nipple line and a medial lateral oblique (MLO) nipple line on a mammogram, said CC nipple line being on a CC view and extending through the nipple toward the chest wall, bifurcating the breast into a medial half and a lateral half, said MW nipple line being on an MLO view and extending thmugh the nipple toward the chest wall, bifurcating the breast into a superior half and an interior half; b) measuring the shortest distance from a lesion to said CC nipple line and the shortest distance from the lesion to said MLO nipple line; c) plotting said measured distances on a template, said template comprising a substrate of transparent material, comprising: i. a central marking; ii. a horizontal line extending through said central marking, said horizontal line defining CC view measurements; iii. a first series of spaced lines, each line of said first series being pSrpendicular to said horizontal line and each line including marking indicia for indicating the distance of that line from the central marking; iv. an oblique line extending approximately 45 degrees from said horizontal line and through said central marking, said oblique line defining MLO view measurements; and v. a second series of spaced lines, each line of said second series being perpendicular to said oblique line and each line including marking indicia for indicating the distance of that line from the central marking, said measured distances being plotted as a CC point along said horizontal line and a MLO point along said oblique line; d) plotting the intersection of a CC line and a MLO line, the CC line being a perpendicular line to said horizontal line and intersecting said horizontal line at said CC point and the MLO line being a perpendicular line to said oblique line and intersecting said MLO line at said MLO point, said intersection being indicative of the location of said lesion; e) placing said template over a breast with said central marking directly over the nipple; and, f) placing a lesion-indicative marking over the patient's skin marking the location indicative of said lesion.