Breast ultrasound examination including scanning through chestwardly compressing membrane and processing and displaying acquired ultrasound image information
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system for ultrasound examination of an upwardly facing breast of a supine patient, comprising:
- a support and a compression/scanning module supported thereby and configured to move under hand control of an operator from a non-scanning position above the supine patient and out of contact with the supine patient'"'"'s breast to a scanning position upon the supine patient and in contact with the breast, the compression/scanning module comprising;
(i) a housing member supported by the support and shaped for said hand control of the compression/scanning module by the operator, said housing member having a lower opening;
(ii) an ultrasound transducer movably disposed within said housing member;
(iii) an ultrasonically transparent compressive membrane secured across said lower opening in said housing member, said membrane and said housing member forming a general enclosure within which said ultrasound transducer is movably maintained, said compressive membrane being positioned to contact the breast and compress the breast in a chestward direction when the compression/scanning module is in said scanning position; and
(iv) an actuator disposed within said housing member and coupled to the ultrasound transducer and configured, when the compression/scanning module is in said scanning position, to translate the ultrasound transducer across the compressive membrane, said ultrasound transducer thereby scanning the chestwardly compressed breast through said membrane to acquire image data representative of a three-dimensional data volume of a sonographic property of the chestwardly compressed breast;
wherein said housing member and said membrane are each optically transparent at locations thereon sufficient for the operator to visually observe a skin surface of the chestwardly compressed breast, including a nipple location thereon, through the housing member and through the membrane when the compression/scanning module is in said scanning position;
a processor configured to receive and process the image data representative of the three-dimensional data volume to generate therefrom (a) a plurality of two-dimensional coronal ultrasound images, each coronal ultrasound image representing said sonographic property of the chestwardly compressed breast along one of a slice and slab subvolume thereof substantially parallel to a coronal plane of the patient, and (b) a plurality of two-dimensional axial ultrasound images, each axial ultrasound image representing said sonographic property of the chestwardly compressed breast along one of a slice and slab subvolume thereof substantially parallel to an axial plane of the patient; and
a computerized display configured to receive and selectively display said coronal ultrasound images and said axial ultrasound images;
wherein said processor is further configured to receive information indicative of said nipple location as visually observed and indicated by the operator with said compression/scanning module in said scanning position and to process said information indicative of the nipple location in conjunction with said image data representative of the three-dimensional data volume to determine a nipple location corresponding to each of said coronal ultrasound images; and
wherein said computerized display is further configured to display a nipple marker with each said coronal ultrasound image at said determined nipple location thereon.
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Abstract
Navigation among breast ultrasound volumes derived from different volumetric ultrasonic scans of a same breast is described. On a display of a breast ultrasound workstation, a first image derived from a first ultrasonic volume is displayed. A user election of a source region of interest (ROI) in the first image is received. A destination ROI within a second ultrasonic volume is identified that at least roughly corresponds to a same locality of tissue in the breast as the source ROI. A second image derived from the second ultrasonic volume and including the destination ROI is displayed, the destination ROI being highlighted.
15 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A system for ultrasound examination of an upwardly facing breast of a supine patient, comprising:
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a support and a compression/scanning module supported thereby and configured to move under hand control of an operator from a non-scanning position above the supine patient and out of contact with the supine patient'"'"'s breast to a scanning position upon the supine patient and in contact with the breast, the compression/scanning module comprising; (i) a housing member supported by the support and shaped for said hand control of the compression/scanning module by the operator, said housing member having a lower opening; (ii) an ultrasound transducer movably disposed within said housing member; (iii) an ultrasonically transparent compressive membrane secured across said lower opening in said housing member, said membrane and said housing member forming a general enclosure within which said ultrasound transducer is movably maintained, said compressive membrane being positioned to contact the breast and compress the breast in a chestward direction when the compression/scanning module is in said scanning position; and (iv) an actuator disposed within said housing member and coupled to the ultrasound transducer and configured, when the compression/scanning module is in said scanning position, to translate the ultrasound transducer across the compressive membrane, said ultrasound transducer thereby scanning the chestwardly compressed breast through said membrane to acquire image data representative of a three-dimensional data volume of a sonographic property of the chestwardly compressed breast; wherein said housing member and said membrane are each optically transparent at locations thereon sufficient for the operator to visually observe a skin surface of the chestwardly compressed breast, including a nipple location thereon, through the housing member and through the membrane when the compression/scanning module is in said scanning position; a processor configured to receive and process the image data representative of the three-dimensional data volume to generate therefrom (a) a plurality of two-dimensional coronal ultrasound images, each coronal ultrasound image representing said sonographic property of the chestwardly compressed breast along one of a slice and slab subvolume thereof substantially parallel to a coronal plane of the patient, and (b) a plurality of two-dimensional axial ultrasound images, each axial ultrasound image representing said sonographic property of the chestwardly compressed breast along one of a slice and slab subvolume thereof substantially parallel to an axial plane of the patient; and a computerized display configured to receive and selectively display said coronal ultrasound images and said axial ultrasound images; wherein said processor is further configured to receive information indicative of said nipple location as visually observed and indicated by the operator with said compression/scanning module in said scanning position and to process said information indicative of the nipple location in conjunction with said image data representative of the three-dimensional data volume to determine a nipple location corresponding to each of said coronal ultrasound images; and wherein said computerized display is further configured to display a nipple marker with each said coronal ultrasound image at said determined nipple location thereon. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for ultrasound examination of an upwardly facing breast of a supine patient, comprising:
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providing a compression/scanning module comprising a housing member, an ultrasound transducer movably disposed within said housing member, an ultrasonically transparent compressive membrane secured across a lower opening defined in said housing member, said membrane and said housing member forming a general enclosure within which said ultrasound transducer is movably maintained, and an automated translation assembly disposed within said housing member and coupled to the ultrasound transducer; selectively manipulating, by an operator, the compression/scanning module from a non-scanning position above the supine patient and out of contact with the breast to a scanning position in which the compressive membrane of the compression/scanning module compresses the breast in a chestward direction, wherein after the compression/scanning assembly is in said scanning position the automated translation assembly translates the ultrasound transducer across the compressive membrane to thereby scan the chestwardly compressed breast therethrough to acquire image data representative of a three-dimensional data volume of a sonographic property of the chestwardly compressed breast; wherein said housing member and said membrane are each optically transparent at locations thereon sufficient for the operator to visually observe a skin surface of the chestwardly compressed breast, including a nipple location thereon, through the housing member and through the membrane when the compression/scanning module is in said scanning position; computer processing the image data representative of the three-dimensional data volume to generate therefrom (a) a plurality of two-dimensional coronal ultrasound images, each coronal ultrasound image representing said sonographic property of the chestwardly compressed breast along one of a slice and slab subvolume thereof substantially parallel to a coronal plane of the patient, and (b) a plurality of two-dimensional axial ultrasound images, each axial ultrasound image representing said sonographic property of the chestwardly compressed breast along one of a slice and slab subvolume thereof substantially parallel to an axial plane of the patient; wherein said computer processing further comprises processing information indicative of said nipple location as visually observed and indicated by the operator in conjunction with said image data to determine a nipple location for each of said coronal ultrasound images; and displaying said coronal ultrasound images and said axial ultrasound images on a computerized display, said coronal ultrasound images each including a nipple marker thereon at said determined nipple location. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification