An adjunctive ultrasound mammography system and associated methods are
described comprising an adjunctive ultrasound display configured for
quick, intuitive, interactive viewing of data derived from volumetric
ultrasound scans, the data being displayed near a conventional x-ray
mammogram display. Preferred embodiments for navigating among a
thick-slice image array, a selected enlarged thick-slice image, and
planar ultrasound views are described, including a preferred embodiment
in which the planar ultrasound views are updated in real time as a cursor
is moved across an active thick-slice image. In one preferred embodiment
the thick-slice images are inverted prior to display, with non-breast
areas of the image preferably segmented out and reset to dark. The
inverted thick-slice images are of more familiar significance to
radiologists having years of expertise in analyzing conventional x-ray
mammograms. For example, the inverted thick-slice images allow benign
features to be more easily dismissed as compared to non-inverted
thick-slice images. Preferred embodiments for computing thick-slice image
values from the volumetric scan data are also described that emphasize
larger mass lesions in the resulting thick-slice images, and that
compensate for mass lesions that straddle thick-slice region borders.