ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 8 -- United States Patent no. 12,433,692, issued on Oct. 7, was assigned to Hologic Inc. (Marlborough, Mass.).
"Biopsy needle visualization" was invented by Shawn St. Pierre (The Hills, Texas), Stephen Grantz (Pelham, N.H.), Thomas Fisk (Newton, Mass.) and Mark Guetersloh (Bedford, Mass.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Methods and systems providing guidance for operation of a biopsy needle based on ultrasonic imaging. Ultrasonic waves are emitted and detected by a ultrasonic transducer to generate image data. A biopsy needle is identified within the generated image data, and the biopsy needle may be in a pre-fire configuration. Based on the identification of the biopsy ne...