Marco Vicari1,2, Ulrich Saueressig3,
James W. Wiskin4,5, Paolo Pellegretti6, Michele Zani6,
Vera Ivanovas3, Marisa Windfuhr-Blum3, Jonathan
Kroschel3, Elmar Kotter3, Mathias Langer3
1Esaote S.p.A. , Genova,
Italy; 2Dept. of Radiology, Medical Physics, University Medical
Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; 3Dept. of Radiology, Clinical
Radiology, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; 4Dept.
of Bioengineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States; 5Techniscan,
Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, United States; 6Esaote S.p.A., Genova,
Italy
Breast imaging is crucial in the diagnosis of breast cancer, the most common cancer in women. Mammography is currently the gold standard, sometimes complemented by handheld ultrasound and MRI. All of these techniques are affected by complementary, not negligible, drawbacks. Hence, exploration of new diagnostics techniques, which can ideally merge the strengths of the current ones without inheriting their worst disadvantages, does rise a large interest. In our study a prototype automated breast ultrasound computed tomography technique (USCT) has been performed on 70 patients to date, together with mammography, handheld ultrasound and sometimes MRI. Characteristic features of pathologic findings revealed intriguing similarities between USCT and MRI imaging.
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