Adjunctive ultrasound processing and display for breast cancer screening
First Claim
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.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An adjunctive ultrasound mammography system and associated methods use an adjunctive ultrasound display configured for quick, intuitive, interactive viewing of volumetric ultrasound scans, displayed near a conventional x-ray mammogram display. Preferred navigations among a thick-slice image array, a selected enlarged thick-slice image, and planar ultrasound views are described, including a mode in which the planar ultrasound views are updated in real time as a cursor is moved across an active thick-slice image. In one example the thick-slice images are inverted prior to display, with non-breast areas of the image preferably segmented out and reset to dark. The inverted thick-slice images are of more familiar significance to radiologists as they are more like conventional x-ray mammograms and allow benign features to be more easily dismissed as compared to non-inverted thick-slice images. Preferred embodiments emphasize larger mass lesions and that compensate for mass lesions that straddle thick-slice region borders.
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Citations
9 Claims
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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:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9)
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7. 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, the breast further having a second slab-like subvolume immediately adjacent to the first slab-like subvolume, the method comprising:
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identifying for each pixel location in the thick-slice ultrasound image a first voxel set corresponding to a voxel column in said volumetric ultrasound representation passing through that pixel location and extending from the first border plane to the second border plane; computing one or more statistical properties of said first voxel set; computing an output value for that pixel location using said one or more statistical properties of said first voxel set; identifying for each pixel location in the thick-slice ultrasound image a second voxel set corresponding to said voxel column extending from a first intermediate elevation in said first slab-like subvolume to a second intermediate location in said second slab-like subvolume, said first and second voxel sets having the same number of voxels; computing one or more statistical properties of said second voxel set; computing an alternative result for that pixel location using said one or more statistical properties of said second voxel set; and if said alternative result indicates an ultrasound echo intensity less than that indicated by said output value, resetting said output value to said alternative result. - View Dependent Claims (8)
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Specification