A 3D ultrasound (US)-guided biopsy system was developed to supplement stereotactic mammography (SM) with near real-time 3D and real-time 2D US imaging. We have combined features from SM and US guided biopsy, including breast stabilisation, a confined needle trajectory and dual modality imaging. We have evaluated our procedure using breast phantoms, in terms of its accuracy with US-guided biopsy. Phantoms made of animal tissue with embedded phantom 'lesions' allowed us to test the biopsy accuracy of our procedure. We have also registered the SM image space to US image space, and both spaces to the mechanical geometry of the needle trajectory. Evaluation experiments have shown that our US-guided biopsy procedure was capable of placing the needle tip with 0.85 mm accuracy at a target identified in the 3D image. We also identified that we could successfully biopsy artificial lesions that were 3.2 mm in diameter, with a 96% success rate. As an adjunct to stereotactic mammography, we propose that this system could provide more complete information for target identification and real-time monitoring of needle insertion, as well as providing a means for rapid confirmation of biopsy success with 3D ultrasound.A 3D ultrasound (US)-guided biopsy system was developed to supplement stereotactic mammography (SM) with near real-time 3D and real-time 2D US imaging. We have combined features from SM and US guided biopsy, including breast stabilisation, a confined needle trajectory and dual modality imaging. We have evaluated our procedure using breast phantoms, in terms of its accuracy with US-guided biopsy. Phantoms made of animal tissue with embedded phantom 'lesions' allowed us to test the biopsy accuracy of our procedure. We have also registered the SM image space to US image space, and both spaces to the mechanical geometry of the needle trajectory. Evaluation experiments have shown that our US-guided biopsy procedure was capable of placing the needle tip with 0.85 mm accuracy at a target identified in the 3D image. We also identified that we could successfully biopsy artificial lesions that were 3.2 mm in diameter, with a 96% success rate. As an adjunct to stereotactic mammography, we propose that this system could provide more complete information for target identification and real-time monitoring of needle insertion, as well as providing a means for rapid confirmation of biopsy success with 3D ultrasound.
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