An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes a probe configured to irradiate an ultrasonic signal to an object and receive the ultrasonic signal reflected from the object; a pressure device configured to contract or expand a blood vessel of the object and is divided into a plurality of regions; and a controller configured to operate in one region of the plurality of regions to generate an image related to the blood vessel of the object and sequentially operate in other regions of the plurality of regions.

A system for screening tissue on the presence of malignant cells in said tissue, which system comprises a wave detector and a data processing device connected or connectable to the wave detector for processing data received from the wave detector, which system comprises an actuator to excite the tissue which is suspected to comprise malignant cells, and the data processing device comprises an analyzer connected to the wave detector for analyzing the data received from the wave detector in response to the actuator exciting the tissue, which analyzer is arranged to identify the tissue with an elevated probability to comprise malignant cells in comparison with tissue that is not suspected to comprise malignant cells in an individual case. The inventors remark that the identification of high but symmetrical outcome results can be used in a population-based stratification of risk of developing malignant cells and can serve as a biomarker in risk-based screening approaches.

A control device including: a control unit that, in a case in which continuous imaging that irradiates a breast of a subject with radiation emitted from a radiation source to capture a radiographic image in a compressed state in which the breast is compressed against an imaging table by a compression member and then captures an ultrasound image of the breast in the compressed state is performed, performs control to locate the radiation source at a non-facing position where the radiation source and the imaging table do not face each other.

A compression plate of a mammography apparatus has an upper surface which is irradiated with radiation, a lower surface which is opposite to the upper surface and comes into contact with the breast, and a surface which is parallel to the upper surface between the upper surface and the lower surface. In the compression plate, a compression plate scale for identifying an in-plane position of each surface is given to any one of the surfaces. A first display control unit of a console performs control to display a radiographic image captured by the mammography apparatus on a display unit. A second display control unit of the console performs control to display an image scale which indicates a position on the radiographic image corresponding to the in-plane position of the compression plate on the radiographic image displayed on the display unit.

A control device including: a breast thickness acquisition unit that acquires a thickness of a breast in a pressed state by a pressing member; a depth information acquisition unit that, in a case where an ultrasound image of the breast in the pressed state is captured, acquires depth information indicating a depth to which imaging by an ultrasonography apparatus which captures the ultrasound image is possible; a deriving unit that derives imaging information indicating whether or not capture of an ultrasound image having predetermined accuracy or higher is possible by the ultrasonography apparatus on the basis of the thickness of the breast acquired by the breast thickness acquisition unit and the depth information acquired by the depth information acquisition unit; and an output unit that outputs the imaging information derived by the deriving unit.

An imaging apparatus includes a base portion having a space in which a part of a human body is placed, a probe body attached to the base portion and including an imaging unit that faces the space and is configured to acquire a cross-sectional image of the part of the human body when the part of the human body is placed in the space, a first pressing portion attached to the base portion and by which the part of the human body can be pressed against the imaging unit, and a controller configured to control a pressure applied to the part of the human body by the first pressing portion.

A method and system acquiring, processing and displaying breast ultrasound images in a way that makes breast ultrasound screening more practical and thus more widely used, and reduces the occurrence of missing cancers in screening and diagnosis, using automated scanning of chestwardly compressed breasts with ultrasound. Enhanced, whole-breast navigator overview images are produced from scanning breasts with ultrasound that emphasize abnormalities in the breast while excluding obscuring influences of non-breast structures, particularly those external to the breast such as ribs and chest wall, and differentiating between likely malignant and likely benign abnormalities and otherwise enhancing the navigator overview image and other images, thereby reducing the time to read, screen, and/or diagnose to practical time limits and also reduce screening or diagnostic errors.

An acoustic matching member configured to be disposed between a breast placed on an imaging table and a compression plate disposed opposite to the imaging table is proposed. The acoustic matching member includes a protruding portion that protrudes toward the imaging table and that is provided in an end portion on a deepest side when viewed from a chest wall side of a subject in a case of compressing a breast of the subject in contact with the compression plate.

A compression unit for a combined x-ray and ultrasound examination device and an examination device. The handling of the combined x-ray and ultrasound examination device is simplified by providing a compression unit with a compression surface which is permeable to x-rays and ultrasound and which is, or can be, coupled to a support element of the examination device irrespective of the existence of a mechanical and/or electrical connection between the ultrasound unit and the examination device.

The technology relates to a methods and systems for improving medical imaging procedures. An example method includes receiving a first set of quality metrics for a plurality of medical images acquired at a first imaging facility; receiving a second set of quality metrics for a second plurality of medical images acquired at a second imaging facility; comparing the first set of quality metrics to the second set of quality metrics; based on the comparison of the first set of quality metrics to the second set of quality metrics, generating a benchmark for at least one metric in the first set of quality metrics and the second set of quality metrics; generating facility data based on the generated benchmark and the first set of quality metrics; and sending the facility data to the first imaging facility.