Brassiere for use in mammography imaging procedures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12082628-B2
Application number	US-202217966266-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 14, 2022
Priority date	Oct 14, 2022
Publication date	Sep 10, 2024
Grant date	Sep 10, 2024

Abstract

According to one aspect of an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, a mammography imaging system or device includes a brassiere including one or more inflation chambers to assist in automatically positioning the breast. The brassiere includes cup in which the breast is positioned that includes a radiolucent cushion material along with the chambers and one or more inflatable chambers to compress/push the breast forward to position the breast within the cup as desired. In addition, the brassiere includes a vacuum system secured to the front part of the cup to pull the tip or nipple portion of the breast forward with vacuum-based suction technique. With the initial compression of the breast within the cup, the compression paddle of the imaging system can then be employed to apply any necessary additional force across the breast to achieve the required breast position and thickness for the selected image view, with the cushion material limiting any discomfort from the compression.

First claim

We claim:

1. A brassiere comprising:
a. a body including at least one aperture formed therein;
b. a cup secured to the body around the aperture, the cup including at least one inflatable chamber and at least one cushion disposed on a breast contact surface of the cup; and
c. an inflation module operably connected to the at least one inflatable chamber to selectively inflate and deflate the at least one inflatable chamber.

2. The brassiere of claim 1 , wherein the cup is releasably secured to the body.

3. The brassiere of claim 1 , wherein the at least one cushion is disposed on a breast contact surface of the at least one inflatable chamber.

4. The brassiere of claim 1 , wherein the cup includes a wide end secured to the body and a narrow end opposite the wide end that define and interior therebetween, wherein the narrow end includes an opening therein and further comprising a vacuum tube connected to the narrow end around the opening.

5. The brassiere of claim 4 , wherein the inflation module comprises:
a. an inflation system operably connected to the at least one inflation chamber;
b. a vacuum system operably connected to the vacuum tube;
c. a control mechanism operably connected to the inflation system and to the vacuum system; and
d. a power source operably connected to each of the inflation system, the vacuum system and the control mechanism.

6. The brassiere of claim 5 , wherein the inflation system and the vacuum system each comprise:
a. a pump;
b. a release valve; and
c. a pressure sensor.

7. The brassiere of claim 5 , wherein the control mechanism is adapted to be operably connected with at least one of a wired or wireless connection to a controller of a mammography imaging device.

8. The brassiere of claim 1 , wherein the inflation module is releasably attached to the body and to the at least one inflatable chamber.

9. The brassiere of claim 1 , wherein the cup includes a number of inflatable chambers disposed along one of a lower half or an upper half of the cup.

10. The brassiere of claim 1 , wherein the at least one inflatable chamber comprises:
a. an outer surface;
b. an inner surface connected to the outer surface to define a pocket therebetween; and
c. an air tube operably connected between the pocket and the inflation module.

11. The brassiere of claim 1 , wherein the at least one inflatable chamber comprises:
a. an outer surface;
b. an inner surface connected to the outer surface to define a number of individual inflatable chambers having pockets formed therein; and
c. a number of air tubes, each air tube operably connected between one of the number of inflatable chambers and the inflation module.

12. The brassiere of claim 11 , wherein the number of inflatable chambers are releasably secured to the cup body and to one another.

13. A method for compressing a breast into a desired shape for a mammography imaging procedure on an imaging device, the method comprising the steps of:
a. providing a brassiere comprising:
i. a body including at least one aperture formed therein;
ii. a cup secured to the body around the aperture, the cup including at least one inflatable chamber and at least one cushion disposed on a breast contact surface of the cup; and
iii. an inflation module operably connected to the at least one inflatable chamber to selectively inflate and deflate the at least one inflatable chamber;

b. positioning the breast within the cup;
c. inflating the at least one inflatable chamber to compress the breast within the cup; and
d. placing the brassiere and the breast compressed therein on the imaging device to perform the mammography imaging procedure.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the cup includes a number of inflatable chambers disposed within an interior of the cup, and wherein the step of inflating the at least one inflatable chamber comprises selectively inflating each of the number of inflatable chambers to compress the breast.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the cup includes a wide end secured to the body, a narrow end opposite the wide end, and a vacuum tube connected to an opening in the narrow end; and wherein the method further comprises the step of applying a vacuum to the narrow end through the opening.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the inflation module includes a control mechanism operably connected to the inflation system, and wherein the step of inflating the at least one inflatable chamber to compress the breast is performed by automatically by the control mechanism.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the imaging device is a mammography imaging device including a controller including data concerning a breast position for obtaining at least one image of the breast with the mammography imaging device, the method further comprising the steps of
a. transmitting the data concerning the breast position from the controller of the mammography imaging device to the control mechanism of the inflation module; and
b. inflating the at least one inflatable chamber to compress the breast into the breast position.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the mammography imaging system includes a compression plate movable with respect to a detector, and wherein the step of placing the brassiere and the breast compressed therein on the imaging device to perform the mammography imaging procedure comprises the steps of:
a. positioning the brassiere and compressed breast therein on the detector after inflating the at least one inflatable chamber to compress the breast into the breast position; and
b. moving the compression plate to further compress the breast.

19. A mammography system comprising:
a. a mammography imaging device including:
i. a gantry including a radiation source, a detector alignable with the radiation source, and a compression paddle moveable relative to the detector to secure a patient breast therebetween; and
ii. a controller operably connected to the gantry to control the operation of the radiation source and detector to generate image data, and to control the operation of the biopsy device in an interventional/biopsy mode for the mammography system, the controller including a central processing unit and interconnected database for processing the image data from the detector, a display operably connected to the controller for presenting information to a user, and a user interface operably connected to the controller to enable user input to the controller; and

b. a brassiere operably connected to the controller and adapted to compress a breast into a desired position prior to placement of the breast on the detector, the brassier comprising:
i. a body including at least one aperture formed therein;
ii. a cup secured to the body around the aperture, the cup including at least one inflatable chamber and at least one cushion disposed on a contact surface of the cup; and
iii. an inflation module operably connected to the at least one inflatable chamber to selectively inflate and deflate the at least one inflatable chamber.

20. The mammography system of claim 19 , wherein the inflation module includes a control mechanism operably connected to the controller and configured to selectively inflate and deflate the at least one inflatable chamber in response to data concerning a breast position for obtaining at least one image of the breast transmitted from the controller to the control mechanism.

Assignees

• Ge Prec Healthcare Llc

Inventors

• Sridharan Pradeep Kumar
• Muthu Authavan Revathy

Classifications

• A61B6/502

  for diagnosis of breast, i.e. mammography · CPC title

• A61B6/0414

  with compression means · CPC title

• A61B6/03

  Computed tomography [CT] · CPC title

• A41C3/0064 Primary

  for medical use or surgery · CPC title

• A61B6/0435 Primary

  with means for imaging suspended breasts · CPC title