From the July 2014 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


Breast ultrasound has proven to be very helpful as a supplement to mammography when a woman has dense breasts. Recently, there have been a couple developments in the field that are making the exams faster and more comfortable for the patient.

In January, Delphinus Medical Technologies, Inc. got FDA approval for its SoftVue whole breast ultrasound tomography system. During the exam, the breast is suspended in warm water for one or two minutes and the system created a full map of the whole breast. The company says it’s the first to manufacture a breast ultrasound system that uses ring transducer technology to transmit and receive ultrasound signals.


The conventional hand-held ultrasound and automated breast ultrasound systems only receive the reflected echoes in the direction of the linear transducer but SoftVue receives reflections from all directions around the breast and also obtains transmitted signals that go through the breast.

GE Healthcare received FDA approval on its Invenia Automated Breast Ultrasound System in early June. It uses 3-D ultrasound technology to image women with dense breast faster and more comfortably.

The acquisition time is about 20 seconds faster than the first generation and the transducer is shaped to the patient’s breast. “It’s slightly concaved in nature and that makes it a lot more comfortable for the patient,” says Bob Thompson, general manager of automated breast ultrasound at GE.

One of the reasons that GE manufactured this technology is because of the heightened attention and legislative activity revolving around breast density the past few years. Connecticut became the first state in 2009 to pass a law that required radiologists to inform women that they have dense breasts and to give them advice about supplemental screening. Since then, 15 other states have enacted breast density laws, with Rhode Island being the most recent after signing the law in late May.

According to the organization, Are You Dense?, 40 percent of women have dense breast tissue. Furthermore, many studies have shown that women with dense breasts have a four-to six-fold increase in risk for breast cancer.

Siemens is also in the mix. The company designed the ACUSON S2000 Automated Breast Volume Scanner — a unit that attaches to a regular ultrasound system, to provide a full acquisition that’s reconstructed into 3-D images.

Many are supporting the notification laws, but others have their doubts. “Unfortunately, I think the intention of the breast density notification laws was good but to tell you the truth, I’m skeptical about what the outcome is going to be,” says Lee.

July 2014 Magazine

Read more stories from the July 2014 issue

Rad Oncology Homepage