Adjunctive ultrasound processing and display for breast cancer screening

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.