Automated Breast Ultrasound

ABSTRACT

Breast US is currently considered to be a first-line examination with a role for both the detection and characterization of breast lesions, and breast US has helped significantly improve breast cancer detection compared with mammography alone. However, the issue of the operator dependence of hand-held ultrasound (HHUS) is a major concern when considering the wide-spread use of whole-breast US. Automated breast ultrasound (ABUS) has several advantages over HHUS: it is more reproducible, it has 3D capability through multiplanar reconstruction, it allows delayed interpretation and it offers the potential for complete documentation. In addition, several studies have shown similar results for the detection and characterization of lesions as compared with that of HHUS. Thus, ABUS will serve as a supplemental tool to mammographic screening and especially for women with dense breast tissue. This review provides a summary of the current state of ABUS and it describes the method of ABUS and the potential clinical applications for breast imaging.