Abstract: A tissue biopsy device uses ultrasonic imaging to guide the biopsy needle. An ultrasonic imaging device comprises three acoustically coupled chambers with an ultrasound transducer in a first chamber, at least a portion of an ultrasound detector in the second chamber and the portion of patient anatomy to be imaged placed in the third chamber, which is intermediate the first and second chambers. The three chambers are filled with an acoustically transmissive liquid. One or more of the end walls dividing the first and third chambers and second and third chambers may be movable to form compression plates that are used to retain the patient anatomy in a fixed position during the imaging and biopsy process. When a structure, such as a lesion, has been located, the imaging may be used to determine the precise location of the lesion in three dimensions.

Abstract: There is disclosed a method for non-invasively determining dimensions of a lesion within soft tissue, comprising: (a) ultrasonically imaging soft tissue in an apparatus having an acoustic transducer, an acoustic focussing system, a holographic imaging detector, and a means for visualizing the holographic image; (b) obtaining a holographic planar image of a lesion in a first plane having a thickness z and having a dimension across a wide area of the lesion of x and a length across the lesion of y wherein y is at an approximately 90 degree angle to x; (c) determining if the image of the lesion is contained in different planar images; (d) measuring the x and y dimensions of the lesion in the plane having the largest sum of x plus y dimensions; and (e) determining the 3-dimensional size with a means for z-axis measurement.

Abstract: An acoustically generated image includes only selected acoustical components. When an original acoustic signal interacts with an object, the resultant acoustic signal comprises a diffracted component and an undiffracted component. The acoustical images of the present invention are generated with either the diffracted component only or the undiffracted component only. In an alternative embodiment, the acoustically generated image may comprise selected frequency component(s) from the diffracted component of the acoustic signal.