A hybrid breast biopsy system combining ultrasound and MRI

System design and initial phantom accuracy results for a novel biopsy system integrating both MR (magnetic resonance) and ultrasound (US) imaging modalities are presented. A phantom experiment was performed to investigate the efficacy of this hybrid guidance biopsy technique in a breast tissue equivalent phantom. A comparison between MR-guided core biopsy verses MR/US-guided core biopsy of phantom targets was realized using a scoring system based on the consistency of the acquired core samples (14 gauge). It was determined that the addition of US to guide needle placement improved the accuracy from an average score of 7.4 out of 10 (MRI guidance alone), to 9.6 (MR/US guidance) over 21 trials. The average amount of needle tip correction resulting from the additional US information was determined to be 3.7 mm. This correction value is substantial, equaling to approximately one radius of the intended targets. The addition of real-time US to improve the accuracy of MR-guided core biopsy was established in a phantom model.