Abstract: A method and apparatus for treatment planning are described. A treatment planning system provides a computer-simulated virtual environment including a virtual artifact that is a three-dimensional simulation of a patient anatomy, wherein the three-dimensional simulation is generated from one or more diagnostic images taken of the patient anatomy. The treatment planning system performs a treatment planning operation associated with the virtual artifact in response to a user interaction with the virtual environment.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for treatment planning are described. A treatment planning system provides a computer-simulated virtual environment including a virtual artifact that is a three-dimensional simulation of a patient anatomy, wherein the three-dimensional simulation is generated from one or more diagnostic images taken of the patient anatomy. The treatment planning system performs a treatment planning operation associated with the virtual artifact in response to a user interaction with the virtual environment.

Abstract: An apparatus and related methods for ultrasound-assisted surgical removal of a tumor or other biological object from a patient, the tumor requiring complete removal such that no portion thereof remains inside the patient, is described. According to a preferred embodiment, a specimen containing the tumor is extracted from the patient and suspended in a container holding an acoustically conductive fluid. An ultrasound probe is brought into acoustic communication with the fluid and scans the specimen, preferably at an acoustic power setting higher than a maximum ultrasonic power permitted on live human tissue. Resulting two-dimensional and/or three-dimensional ultrasound images of the specimen, which have a higher quality due to the increased acoustic power of the scan, are viewed on an output display for examining whether any portion of the tumor comes into contact with a surface of the specimen.

Abstract: An apparatus and related methods for ultrasound-assisted surgical removal of a tumor or other biological object from a patient, the tumor requiring complete removal such that no portion thereof remains inside the patient, is described. According to a preferred embodiment, a specimen containing the tumor is extracted from the patient and suspended in a container holding an acoustically conductive fluid. An ultrasound probe is brought into acoustic communication with the fluid and scans the specimen, preferably at an acoustic power setting higher than a maximum ultrasonic power permitted on live human tissue. Resulting two-dimensional and/or three-dimensional ultrasound images of the specimen, which have a higher quality due to the increased acoustic power of the scan, are viewed on an output display for examining whether any portion of the tumor comes into contact with a surface of the specimen.

Abstract: A method and system for screening and/or diagnosing a tumor in a subject breast using ultrasonically obtained image information is described. A user interface displays a three-dimensional view of the tumor suspended within a three-dimensional semitransparent view of a breast, the tumor suspended at a position corresponding to the actual position of the tumor inside the breast. A larger, close-up view of the tumor is also provided that a user can manipulate (e.g., rotate, enlarge, etc.) for clearer analysis. A semi-transparent view of the opposing breast is placed adjacent to the semi-transparent view of the subject breast in a manner that reflects the actual positioning of the breasts on the patient's body, or in a manner that emulates a mammogram-like view of the breasts.

Abstract: An extended view ultrasound imaging system in which a position sensor is used to detect the location and orientation of a ultrasound transducer for each scan frame as the ultrasound transducer is swept across the surface of a target. The contents of the successive scan frames, together with their location and orientation information, are processed to generate an extended view ultrasound image of the target region. An output array representing the extended view image is first initialized, and then successively updated as each scan frame is received. In a preferred embodiment, an alpha-blending algorithm is used to combine the information in the current scan frame with previous output array values to generate the current output array values.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for extraction of breast tumors from three-dimensional ultrasonic images obtained by interpolation of a series of cross sectional images. The method consists of two stages are disclosed. In the first stage a membership function is automatically generated by using an output of three dimensional LoG(Laplace of Gaussian) filtering for the voxel data. In the second stage, the membership function is used for a fuzzy logic based calculation to produce three grades of the voxel attributable to three classes of “tumor”, “normal tissue” and “boundary”. We then classify each voxel as one of the three classes by relaxation techniques. Also, a parameter for evaluation of the uneven complexity of the surface roughness using a ratio of the surface area over the volume is defined.