Automated breast ultrasound equipment and methods using enhanced navigator aids

US10603007B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• QView Medical Inc. · US

Inventors

• Wei Zhang · Jingwei, CN
• Shih-Ping Wang · Los Altos, US
• Alexander Schneider · Munich, DE
• Harlan Romsdahl · Rue de l'Église, US
• Thomas Neff · Newark, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Sep 27, 2017
• Grant date: Mar 31, 2020
• Expiry date: Jun 1, 2038

Classification

• Technology area (CPC A): Human Necessities
• CPC primary: A61B8/54
• WIPO field: Medical technology
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A method and system acquiring, processing and displaying breast ultrasound images in a way that makes breast ultrasound screening more practical and thus more widely used, and reduces the occurrence of missing cancers in screening and diagnosis, using automated scanning of chestwardly compressed breasts with ultrasound. Enhanced, whole-breast navigator overview images are produced from scanning breasts with ultrasound that emphasize abnormalities in the breast while excluding obscuring influences of non-breast structures, particularly those external to the breast such as ribs and chest wall, and differentiating between likely malignant and likely benign abnormalities and otherwise enhancing the navigator overview image and other images, thereby reducing the time to read, screen, and/or diagnose to practical time limits and also reduce screening or diagnostic errors.