[Current status of 3D/4D volume ultrasound of the breast]

3D/4D volume ultrasound is an established method that offers various options for analyzing and presenting ultrasound volume data. The following imaging techniques are based on automatically acquired ultrasound volumes. The multiplanar view is the typical mode of 3D ultrasound data presentation. The niche mode view is a cut open view of the volume data set. The surface mode is a rendering technique that represents the data within a volume of interest (VOI) with different slice thicknesses (typically 1-4 mm) with a contrast-enhanced surface algorithm. Related to the diagnostic target, the transparency mode helps to present echopoor or echorich structures and their spatial relationships within the ultrasound volume. Glass body rendering is a special type of transparency mode that makes the grayscale data transparent and shows the color flow data in a surface render mode. The inversion mode offers a three-dimensional surface presentation of echopoor lesions. Volume Contrast Imaging (VCI) works with static 3D volume data and is able to be used with 4D for dynamic scanning. Volume calculation of a lesion and virtual computer-assisted organ analysis of the same lesion is performed with VoCal software. Tomographic Ultrasound Imaging (TUI) is the perfect tool to document static 3D ultrasound volumes. 3D/4D volume ultrasound of the breast provides diagnostic information of the coronal plane. In this plane benign lesions show the compression pattern sign, while malignant lesions show the retraction pattern or star pattern sign. The indeterminate pattern of a lesion combines signs of compression and retraction or star pattern in the coronal plane. Glass body rendering in combination with Power-Doppler, Color-Doppler or High-Definition Flow Imaging presents the intra- and peritumoral three-dimensional vascular architecture. 3D targeting shows correct or incorrect needle placement in all three planes after 2D or 4D needle guidance. In conclusion, it is safe to say that 3D/4D volume ultrasound of the breast is technically advanced and suitable for daily diagnostic and interventional breast work in addition to routinely used 2D sonography.