Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

A method and apparatus for obtaining mammographic images of a human patient's breast and subsequently obtaining tissue samples for biopsy includes a deck having one or more of access sites, with the deck elevated above a floor or other supporting surface and capable of supporting the patient thereon. The deck includes a frame and may include one or more filler sections occupying respective access sites when closed. The filler sections are preferably positioned to provide one or more access sites on each side of the deck when opened, the access sites being sized to accommodate a technician or mammography device therein. The deck may include a central, longitudinally extending spine with cross-members extending perpendicular thereto. The filler sections can be removably or pivotally mounted on hinges or pivot pins to selectively shift out of the openings, such as by dropping or raising to a vertical orientation, to accommodate a mammography device or examiner. Removable head and foot supports may be interchangeably mounted at either end of the deck, allowing either end to receive the patient's head. The head support is specially shaped to allow oblique and cranial-caudal imaging with the patient in the decubitus position. The method includes placing the patient in a left or right lateral decubitus position to present her breast in facing relationship to a mammography device positioned in one of the access sites for obtaining a mammographic image, and if necessary, inserting a probe such as a needle or wire for needle localization or a core-cutting rotatable blade to obtain a tissue sample for biopsy.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim