Automatic breast ultrasound: state of the art and future perspectives.

Luca Nicosia,Anna Carla Bozzini,Lorenza Meneghetti,Filippo Pesapane,Federica Ferrari,Maria Pizzamiglio,Antuono Latronico,Enrico Cassano,Chiara Trentin,Nicola Balesetreri

doi:10.3332/ecancer.2020.1062

Abstract

The three-dimensional automated breast ultrasound system (3D ABUS) is a new device which represents a huge innovation in the breast ultrasound field, with several application scenarios of great interest.ABUS's aim is to solve some of the main defects of traditional ultrasound, such as lack of standardization, high level of skill non-reproducibility, small field of view and high commitment of physician time. ABUS has proven to be an excellent non-ionising alternative to other supplemental screening options for women with dense breast tissue; also, it has appeared to be very promising in daily clinical practice.The purpose of this paper is to present a summary of current applications of ABUS, focusing on clinical applications and future perspectives as ABUS is particularly promising for studies involving artificial intelligence, radiomics and evaluation of breast molecular subtypes.

Highlights

Nowadays, breast cancer is still characterised by high mortality: the early identification of breast pathology has always been a challenge for research studies and new devices for increasing the identifications of early-stage tumours are needed
It is well known that, in women with dense breasts, mammography is less accurate in the detection of cancer [1] and screening risks to fail the identification of potentially deadly neoplasia
The complementary use of the hand-held ultrasound (HHUS) in daily clinical practice, and in screening for some study protocols, has led to excellent results and to better detection of breast tumours [2,3,4]. In spite of these achievements, HHUS presents some defects that are often difficult to solve as a lack of standardisation, high level of skill non-reproducibility, small field of view (FOV) and high commitment of physician time [3]

Summary

Introduction

Breast cancer is still characterised by high mortality: the early identification of breast pathology has always been a challenge for research studies and new devices for increasing the identifications of early-stage tumours are needed. The complementary use of the hand-held ultrasound (HHUS) in daily clinical practice, and in screening for some study protocols, has led to excellent results and to better detection of breast tumours [2,3,4]. In spite of these achievements, HHUS presents some defects that are often difficult to solve as a lack of standardisation, high level of skill non-reproducibility, small field of view (FOV) and high commitment of physician time [3].

Objectives

Findings

Conclusion