An automatic full-field volumetric breast ultrasound scanner (AFFBUS) is a developing technology which was initiated to overcome the drawback of dense breasts and to get a three-dimensional view of the breast.
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Clinical applications
Automatic full-field volumetric breast ultrasound is intended and can be used for the evaluation of the breast.
Advantages
good demonstration and overview of breast anatomy
reproducible images due to improved lesion localization
simple provision of CAD or AI data
negative reading competence improved
Disadvantages
Due to high pick up and demonstration of lesions, the rate of inadvertent aspirations and biopsy is high.
Technique
Image acquisition
Automatic ultrasound imaging acquisition of the breasts is done by acquiring volumetric data. One method uses a rigid pivoted stationary frame that is manually pushed so that the transducer with gel applied to it comes in contact with the breast and an optimal scan is acquired.
Image reconstruction
The acquired data is analyzed and converted into thin tomographic slices. There is a facility to use a virtual probe by which multiple other scan planes can be acquired and a lesion, if visualized, can be better demonstrated with its adjacent structures.
Viewing can be done in cine mode or by regular greyscale images and postprocessing can be performed.
Interpretation
Image interpretation is done based on the data acquired in the various planes.
Artifacts
In addition to the expected artefacts, automated breast ultrasound has specific artefacts that are not seen in a conventional breast ultrasound 1.
As with other ultrasound, examinations some artifacts make it difficult to interpret the scan, but also some can be useful, such as a 'skip' artifact.
A skip artefact occurs when the transducer makes a tiny jump due to the interaction between a transducer programmed to run at a constant speed and an area of changing tissue density 2.
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