Technology: Svara™ Warm Bath Ultrasound (WBU™)

TechniScan Medical Systems (TMS) is dedicated to improving the diagnosis of breast cancer. To accomplish this mission, TMS is developing an operator-independent, automated breast imaging system that uses ultrasound.

TechniScan Medical Systems is in the process of applying for 510(k) clearance of the WBU System. The system is not cleared for sale at this time.

The TechniScan WBU System is a software-controlled, fixed room, ultrasound system. The system is designed to maximize patient comfort during the scanning process by enabling the operator to perform an automated whole breast examination while the patient lies prone on the system’s examination table with the breast comfortably suspended in a warm water bath maintained near skin temperature. The ultrasound array is moved in a continuous scan so that a complete series of 2-D image slices of the breast are collected. The resulting images can then be viewed on a DICOM review station.

The quality of the images generated by the system is relatively independent of operator skill and experience (unlike conventional breast ultrasound). Of note, ultrasound breast imaging uses no ionizing radiation and does not require breast compression.