Patent Document ID: 9861342
Application ID: 13863259
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for computing a two-dimensional thick-slice ultrasound image from a volumetric ultrasound representation of a breast, said volumetric ultrasound representation comprising ultrasonic property values for voxels of the breast, said thick-slice ultrasound image comprising values for pixels and corresponding to a first slab-like subvolume of the breast lying between a first border plane and a second border plane thereof, comprising: identifying for a first pixel location in the thick-slice ultrasound image a first voxel set corresponding to a voxel column in said volumetric ultrasound representation passing through the first pixel location and extending from the first border plane to the second border plane; identifying a thickness of the first slab-like volume between the first border plane and the second border plane; identifying a mass size of interest; identifying a target size to slab thickness ratio based on the identified thickness and mass size of interest; computing one or more statistical properties of said first voxel set; identifying a pixel value based on the one or more statistical properties of the first voxel set and the target size to slab thickness ratio; and setting an output value for the first pixel location to the identified pixel value.