The combination of mammography directly with automated ultrasound in the clinical routine

A new technique for breast imaging is presented. This technique combines ra diographic mammography directly with automated ultrasound. The combined exa mination, which is performed without decompression of the breast, yields th e conventional mammography films as well as a complete set of B-mode scans and ultrasound projections. These can be geometrically matched with each ot her in a definitive manner. A prototype of the device was first used in a p ilot study of 50 patients followed by a study of an additional 450 patients with a total of 492 breast lesions, of which 269 were confirmed by histolo gy or cytology. The results show that X-ray and ultrasound are complementar y in the dectection of cancer. The use of an experimental mode of image int erpretation for combined mammography and automated ultrasound reduced the n umber of mammographically suspicious findings that ultimately turned out to be benign. These results were also confirmed in two blind studies includin g a total of 160 histologically or cytologically confirmed lesions and 40 c ases without lesions. With further technical advancement of the technique a imed at rapid and easy application and confirmation of the results obtained so far, the combination of mammography and automated ultrasound might be i ntroduced into a routine clinical setting.