Real Time Spatial Compound Imaging in breast ultrasound: Technology and early clinical experience

September 1999 35 medicamundi In current clinical practice, high-resolution realtime ultrasound has an established and important role in the diagnosis and management of breast disease. It is used as an adjunct to mammography and clinical breast examination [1] to evaluate lesions when findings in those examinations are indeterminate. Ultrasound imaging often allows the clinician to classify a breast mass as benign or malignant by using established descriptive parameters [2]. Sonographic features used to characterize a mass include its shape, orientation, echogenicity, heterogeneity, margin characteristics, and posterior acoustic shadowing or enhancement.