ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 14 -- United States Patent no. 12,678,116, issued on July 14, was assigned to SMART BREAST Corp. (Sherman Oaks, Calif.).

"Computer assisted molecular imaging methods and systems" was invented by James W. Hugg (Tyler, Texas) and Bradley E. Patt (Sherman Oaks, Calif.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method for molecular image acquisition includes beginning acquisition of a molecular image via a molecular imaging system, performing one or more analyses of the molecular image during acquisition of the molecular image to determine whether at least one lesion is present in the image, and if it is determined that there is either at least one lesion present or there is not at le...