Wearable 3d ultrasound-based whole breast imaging system

Abstract

A whole breast 3D ultrasound imaging system involves a wearable adapter subassembly, a compression plate subassembly releasably mountable on the wearable adapter subassembly and a motor plate subassembly releasably mountable on the compression plate subassembly so that the compression plate subassembly is between the wearable adapter subassembly and the motor plate subassembly. The wearable adapter subassembly acts as a dam to contain ultrasound fluid around a subject's breast. The compression plate subassembly has an ultrasound compression plate in a frame, whereby the ultrasound compression plate is height adjustable. The motor plate subassembly has an ultrasound transducer and an actuator operatively coupled to the ultrasound transducer to translate the ultrasound transducer in a plane parallel to the ultrasound compression plate. The imaging system is cost-effective, portable and hands-free and can be used for bedside point-of-care imaging to acquire clear, sharp 3D ultrasound images of dense and/or small breasts.