Semi-automatic ultrasonic full-breast scanner and computer-assisted detection system for breast cancer mass screening

摘要

Breast cancer mass screening is widely performed by mammography but in some population with dense breast, ultrasonography is much effective for cancer detection. For this purpose it is necessary to develop special ultrasonic equipment and the system for breast mass screening. It is important to design scanner, image recorder, viewer with CAD (Computer-assisted detection) as a system. Authors developed automatic scanner which scans unilateral breast within 30 seconds. An electric linear probe visualizes width of 6cm, the probe moves 3 paths for unilateral breast. Ultrasonic images are recorded as movie files. These files are treated by microcomputer as volume data. Doctors can diagnose by digital rapid viewing with 3D function. It is possible to show unilateral or bilateral images on a screen. The viewer contains reporting function as well. This system is considered enough capability to perform ultrasonic breast cancer mass screening.