Conformable Ultrasound Breast Patch for Deep Tissue Scanning and Imaging

Ultrasound is widely used for tissue imaging such as breast cancer diagnosis; however, fundamental challenges limit its integration with wearable technologies, namely imaging over large-area curvilinear organs. We introduced a wearable, conformable ultrasound breast patch (cUSBr-Patch) that enables standardized and reproducible image acquisition over the entire breast with less reliance on operator training and applied transducer compression. A nature-inspired honeycomb-shaped patch combined with a phased array is guided by an easy-to-operate tracker that provides for large-area, deep scanning and multi-angle breast imaging capability. The clinical trials reveal that the array using a piezoelectric crystal (Yb/Bi-PIN-PMN-PT) exhibits a sufficient contrast resolution (~3 dB) and axial/lateral resolutions of 0.25/1.0 mm at 30 mm depth, allowing the observation of small cysts (~ 0.3 cm) in the breast. This research develops a first-of-its-kind ultrasound technology for breast tissue scanning and imaging which offers a non-invasive method for tracking real-time dynamic changes of soft tissue.