Patent Document ID: 9101290
Application ID: 13711377
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for characterizing a volume of breast tissue of a patient, comprising: introducing a contrast agent into the volume of breast tissue; scanning the volume of breast tissue with a ring transducer comprising a plurality of transmitters configured to emit acoustic waves towards a volume of contrast agent-enhanced breast tissue and a plurality of receivers configured to detect a plurality of acoustic waves from the volume of contrast agent-enhanced breast tissue; at a computer processing system receiving an enhanced acoustic data set derived from the plurality of acoustic waves; at the computer processing system generating a set of enhanced morphology renderings of the volume of contrast agent-enhanced breast tissue from the enhanced acoustic data set, wherein the set of enhanced morphology renderings includes a first enhanced morphology rendering representing a distribution of acoustic speed, a second enhanced morphology rendering representing distribution of acoustic attenuation, and a third enhanced morphology rendering representing a distribution of acoustic reflection within the volume of contrast agent-enhanced tissue; at the computer processing system, generating a merged rendering based on the first, the second, and the third enhanced morphology renderings; at the computer processing system identifying a region of interest within the volume of contrast agent-enhanced breast tissue from the merged rendering; at the computer processing system, determining a set of prognostic parameters for the region of interest, wherein the set of prognostic parameters for the region of interest comprises a volume average value of acoustic attenuation, a volume average value of acoustic speed, and a reflection index characterizing margin sharpness for the region of interest, wherein the reflection index is derived from changes in acoustic impedance within the region of interest; and at the computer processing system, characterizing the region of interest as at least one of malignant and benign based on a predictive model and the set of prognostic parameters.