Adjunctive ultrasound processing and display for breast cancer screening
First Claim
1. A method for acquisition and interactive display of adjunctive ultrasound mammography information in a breast cancer screening environment, comprising:
- compressing a breast of a patient along a compression direction by exerting a compressive force;
acquiring a relatively high number of individual ultrasound slice images representative of a sonographic property of substantially an entire volume of the breast by scanning the breast in an automated scanning process with a linear array transducer, the individual ultrasound slices conforming to planes that are generally along the compression direction and being acquired at a respective relatively high number of scan positions spaced apart by less than about 0.75 mm;
computing from said relatively high number of individual ultrasound slice images a plurality of two-dimensional thick-slice images representative of the sonographic property of the breast in respective relatively thick slices thereof greater than about 2 mm and less than about 20 mm in thickness, said respective relatively thick slices conforming to planes that are generally transverse to the compression direction, wherein said plurality of thick-slice ultrasound images is sufficient in number, and said respective relatively thick slices are sufficient in thickness, such that said respective relatively thick slices collectively occupy substantially the entire breast volume;
electronically displaying to a user a thick-slice image array comprising all of said thick-slice ultrasound images, wherein all of said thick-slice ultrasound images are displayed in a simultaneous, side-by-side manner;
receiving a first command from the user that selects a first member of said thick-slice ultrasound image array and a first location thereon;
responsive to said first command, electronically displaying an enlarged thick-slice image view of said selected first member; and
causing to be displayed on said enlarged thick-slice image view a viewable marker at a second location spatially corresponding to a same location in the breast as said first location on said selected first member.
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Abstract
An adjunctive ultrasound mammography system and associated methods are described comprising an adjunctive ultrasound display configured for quick, intuitive, interactive viewing of data derived from volumetric ultrasound scans, the data being displayed near a conventional x-ray mammogram display. Preferred embodiments for navigating among a thick-slice image array, a selected enlarged thick-slice image, and planar ultrasound views are described, including a preferred embodiment in which the planar ultrasound views are updated in real time as a cursor is moved across an active thick-slice image. In one preferred embodiment 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 having years of expertise in analyzing conventional x-ray mammograms. For example, the inverted thick-slice images allow benign features to be more easily dismissed as compared to non-inverted thick-slice images. Preferred embodiments for computing thick-slice image values from the volumetric scan data are also described that emphasize larger mass lesions in the resulting thick-slice images, and that compensate for mass lesions that straddle thick-slice region borders.
127 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method for acquisition and interactive display of adjunctive ultrasound mammography information in a breast cancer screening environment, comprising:
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compressing a breast of a patient along a compression direction by exerting a compressive force; acquiring a relatively high number of individual ultrasound slice images representative of a sonographic property of substantially an entire volume of the breast by scanning the breast in an automated scanning process with a linear array transducer, the individual ultrasound slices conforming to planes that are generally along the compression direction and being acquired at a respective relatively high number of scan positions spaced apart by less than about 0.75 mm; computing from said relatively high number of individual ultrasound slice images a plurality of two-dimensional thick-slice images representative of the sonographic property of the breast in respective relatively thick slices thereof greater than about 2 mm and less than about 20 mm in thickness, said respective relatively thick slices conforming to planes that are generally transverse to the compression direction, wherein said plurality of thick-slice ultrasound images is sufficient in number, and said respective relatively thick slices are sufficient in thickness, such that said respective relatively thick slices collectively occupy substantially the entire breast volume; electronically displaying to a user a thick-slice image array comprising all of said thick-slice ultrasound images, wherein all of said thick-slice ultrasound images are displayed in a simultaneous, side-by-side manner; receiving a first command from the user that selects a first member of said thick-slice ultrasound image array and a first location thereon; responsive to said first command, electronically displaying an enlarged thick-slice image view of said selected first member; and causing to be displayed on said enlarged thick-slice image view a viewable marker at a second location spatially corresponding to a same location in the breast as said first location on said selected first member. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification