A system comprising an A-mode ultrasonic apparatus and a data processing apparatus and a stored program method is disclosed, for classifying a palpable breast mass based on analyzing data from a digital a-mode ultrasound Echograph of the observed mass and communicating the results of that classification directly to a user of the system in the form of a simple color-coded text block depending on whether the system determines the observed breast mass to be more-likely abnormal or more-likely not abnormal.