Breast ultrasound scanning device

Abstract

An apparatus and a method are disclosed for obtaining ultrasound images of a patient's breast that is chestwardly compressed with a template that is essentially planar and rotates relative to the breast while one or more ultrasound transducers moving with the template take 2D images of the breast through one or more respective radially oriented slots in the template, preferably through a membrane that is porous to a gel. The 2D images are processed into slice images representing breast slices of desired thicknesses and orientation that are displayed alone or with some of the 2D images, preferably pairs of orthogonally disposed 2D images.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for ultrasonically scanning a breast, comprising:
 an essentially planar radial scanning template configured to contact and compress the breast chestwardly, wherein the template has a rounded periphery and a nipple hole configured for a breast nipple to protrude therethrough, and the template has one or more elongated, slot-shaped openings extending from the central hole toward a periphery of the template;   one or more elongated ultrasound transducers each aligned with a respective one of the one or more slot-shaped openings;   said template being configured to rotate over the breast while compressing the breast, and said one or more transducers being configured to rotate with the template to scan the breast ultrasonically through the respective one or more slot-shaped openings and to generate 2D ultrasound images of the breast; and   a computer-implemented image processing and display facility associated with the one or more transducers and configured to receive and process the 2D images into images of slices of the breast that have selected thicknesses and orientations, and further configured to display, under operator control, at least one or more images selected from the slice images.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1  in which the image processing and display facility is configured to display one or more images selected from the 2D images concurrently with the display of one or more images selected from the slice images. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1  in which the image processing and display facility is configured to concurrently display a first 2D image and a second 2D image, both of which are selected from the 2D images such that the first and second 2D images are 180 degrees apart. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1  in which the template includes two or more slot-shaped openings and two or more ultrasound transducers each aligned with a respective one of the openings. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 4  in which two or more of the ultrasound transducers differ from each other in radial length. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 4  in which two or more of the ultrasound transducers differ from each other in characteristics in addition to any differences in radial length. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 4  in which the template has a non-circular shape and is configured to have greater radial dimension in a sector configured to approach an axilla of a patient when the patient's breast is being scanned with the transducers. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1  in which edges of the template are provided with rounded lips to avoid contact of sharp edges with patient skin. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 8  in which said rounded edges include edges at a periphery of the template and at the one or more openings in the template. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 1  in which at least one of the one or more transducers has an underside configured to contact the breast with a concave surface. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1  in which the template is configured to scan the breast with one or more transducers over a scan angle that exceeds 360° by an overlap angle. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11  in which the template is configured to scan through an overlap angle that is in the range of 5°-45°. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 1  including a membrane permeable to an acoustic couplant that extends across at least one of the one of more slot-shaped openings, and wherein at least one of the one or more ultrasound transducers scans the breast through the membrane. 
     
     
         14 . An apparatus for ultrasonically scanning a breast, comprising:
 a radial scanning template configured to contact and compress the breast chestwardly with a concave inner surface having a departure angle less than 20°, wherein the template has a rounded periphery and a nipple hole configured for a breast nipple to protrude therethrough, and the template has one or more elongated, slot-shaped openings extending from the central hole toward a periphery of the template;   one or more elongated ultrasound transducers each aligned with a respective one of the one or more slot-shaped openings;   said template being configured to rotate over the breast while compressing the breast, and said one or more transducers being configured to rotate with the template to scan the breast ultrasonically through the respective one or more slot-shaped openings and to generate 2D ultrasound images of the breast; and   a computer-implemented image processing and display facility associated with the one or more transducers and configured to receive and process the 2D images into images of slices of the breast that have selected thicknesses and orientations, and further configured to display, under operator control, at least one or more images selected from the slice images.   
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 14  in which the image processing and display facility is configured to display one or more images selected from the 2D images concurrently with the display of one or more images selected from the slice images. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 14  in which the image processing and display facility is configured to concurrently display a first 2D image and a second 2D image, both of which are selected from the 2D images such that the first and second 2D images are 180 degrees apart. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 14  in which the template includes two or more slot-shaped openings and two or more ultrasound transducers each aligned with a respective one of the openings. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 17  in which two or more of the ultrasound transducers differ from each other in radial length. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 17  in which two or more of the ultrasound transducers differ from each other in characteristics in addition to any differences in radial length. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 17  in which the template has a non-circular shape and is configured to have greater radial dimension in a sector configured to approach an axilla of a patient when the patient's breast is being scanned with the transducers. 
     
     
         21 . The apparatus of  claim 14  in which edges of the template are provided with rounded lips to avoid contact of sharp edges with patient skin. 
     
     
         22 . The apparatus of  claim 21  in which said rounded edges include edges at a periphery of the template and at the openings in the template. 
     
     
         23 . The apparatus of  claim 14  in which at least one of the one or more transducers has an underside configured to contact the breast with a concave surface. 
     
     
         24 . The apparatus of  claim 14  in which the template has a departure angle of less than 15°. 
     
     
         25 . The apparatus of  claim 14  in which the template has a departure angle of less than 10°. 
     
     
         26 . The apparatus of  claim 14  in which the template has a departure angle of less than 5°. 
     
     
         27 . The apparatus of  claim 14  including a membrane that is permeable to an acoustic couplant and through which at least one of the one or more transducers scans the breast. 
     
     
         28 . A method of ultrasonically scanning a patient's breast comprising:
 chestwardly compressing the breast with a radial scanning template configured to contact and compress the breast chestwardly with a concave inner surface having a departure angle less than 20°, wherein the template has a rounded periphery and a nipple hole configured for a breast nipple to protrude therethrough, and the template has one or more elongated, slot-shaped openings extending from the central hole toward a periphery of the template;   ultrasonically scanning the chestwardly compressed breast with one or more elongated ultrasound transducers each aligned with a respective one of the one or more slot-shaped openings while the template and the transducers rotate over the breast;   generating 2D ultrasound images of the breast from signals provided by the scanning one of more transducers;   computer-processing the 2D images into images of slices of the breast that have selected thicknesses and orientations; and   displaying under operator control at least one or more images selected from the slice images.   
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28  in which the compressing step comprises compressing the breast with an essentially planar radial scanning template. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 28  including interposing a membrane that is permeable to an acoustic couplant between the breast and the one of more transducers during said scanning of the breast. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 30  including interposing a membrane that is permeable to an acoustic couplant between the side of the template and the breast during said scanning. 
     
     
         32 . An apparatus for ultrasonically scanning a breast, comprising:
 a concavely curved radial scanning template configured to contact and compress the breast chestwardly, wherein the template has a rounded periphery and a nipple hole configured for a breast nipple to protrude therethrough, and the template has one or more elongated, slot-shaped openings extending from the central hole toward a periphery of the template;   one or more elongated ultrasound transducers each aligned with a respective one of the one or more slot-shaped openings and each having a lower surface that is shaped to correspond to the concavely curved radial scanning template;   said template being configured to rotate over the breast while compressing the breast, and said one or more transducers being configured to rotate with the template to scan the breast ultrasonically through the respective one or more slot-shaped openings and to generate 2D ultrasound images of the breast; and   a computer-implemented image processing and display facility associated with the one or more transducers and configured to receive and process the 2D images into images of slices of the breast that have selected thicknesses and orientations, and further configured to display, under operator control, at least one or more images selected from the slice images.   
     
     
         33 . The apparatus of  claim 32  in which the image processing and display facility is configured to display one or more images selected from the 2D images concurrently with the display of one or more images selected from the slice images. 
     
     
         34 . The apparatus of  claim 32  in which the image processing and display facility is configured to concurrently display a first 2D image and a second 2D image, both of which are selected from the 2D images such that the first and second 2D images are 180 degrees apart. 
     
     
         35 . The apparatus of  claim 32  in which the template includes two or more slot-shaped openings and two or more ultrasound transducers each aligned with a respective one of the openings. 
     
     
         36 . The apparatus of  claim 32  in which the template has a departure angle of less than 45°. 
     
     
         37 . The apparatus of  claim 32  in which the template has a departure angle of less than 30°. 
     
     
         38 . The apparatus of  claim 32  in which the template has a departure angle of less than 15°. 
     
     
         39 . The apparatus of  claim 32  including a membrane permeable to an acoustic couplant that extends across at least one of the one of more slot-shaped openings, and wherein at least one of the one or more ultrasound transducers scans the breast through the membrane. 
     
     
         40 . The apparatus of  claim 32  wherein said lower surface of each of the one or more transducers is concavely curved along both a longitudinal direction of the lower surface and a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction. 
     
     
         41 . The apparatus of  claim 40  wherein at least one of the one or more transducers includes multiple transducer arrays parallel to one another.