Patent ID: 8870771

Claim:
A method, comprising: transmitting an acoustic signal through a breast tissue volume; measuring, throughout the breast tissue volume, a distribution of one or more acoustic parameters comprising sound speed based upon an analysis of the acoustic signal transmitted through the breast tissue volume; obtaining an average whole breast sound speed velocity based upon at least a measured distribution of sound speed; and quantifying present or future cancer risk based upon a comparison between the average whole breast sound speed velocity and one or more of the following BI-RADS breast density measures: a fatty BI-RADS: 1 categorization if the average whole breast sound speed velocity is substantially between 1400-1415 m/s; a scattered BI-RADS: 2 categorization if the average whole breast sound speed velocity is substantially between 1405-1420 m/s; a heterogeneous BI-RADS: 3 categorization if the average whole breast sound speed velocity is substantially between 1420-1465 m/s; and a dense BI-RADS: 4 categorization if the average whole breast sound speed velocity is substantially between 1460-1575 m/s.