Patent ID: 7018333

Claim:
An apparatus for facilitating examination of a specimen removed from a patient during a surgical removal process, the specimen containing a tumor and surrounding tissue, comprising: a container structured to suspend the specimen in an acoustically conductive fluid such that the acoustically conductive fluid substantially surrounds the specimen; an ultrasound probe for placement in acoustic communication with the acoustically conductive fluid, the ultrasound probe having an ultrasonic power setting higher than a maximum ultrasonic power permitted on live human tissue; an ultrasound processor coupled to the ultrasound probe, the ultrasound processor receiving scan information from the ultrasound probe and computing ultrasound images of the specimen therefrom; and a display device coupled to the ultrasound processor for displaying the ultrasound images of the specimen to a user, said high ultrasonic power setting resulting in ultrasound images having higher signal-to-noise characteristics as compared to images obtained from probes set below said maximum ultrasonic power, said high signal-to-noise ultrasound images enhancing the user's ability to determine whether or not the tumor is completely surrounded by the surrounding tissue in the specimen.