The digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) system is a newly developed 3-D imaging technique that overcomes the tissue superposition problems of conventional mammography. Therefore, it produces fewer false positives. In DBT system, several parameters are involved in image acquisition, including geometric components. A series of projections should be acquired at low exposure. This makes the system strongly dependent on the detector's characteristic performance.This study compares two types of x-ray detectors developed by the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI). The first prototype DBT system has a CsI (Tl) scintillator/CMOS based flat panel digital detector (2923 MAM, Dexela Ltd.), with a pixel size of 0.0748 mm. The second uses a-Se based direct conversion full field detector (AXS 2430, analogic) with a pixel size of 0.085 mm. The geometry of both systems is same, with a focal spot 665.8 mm from the detector, and a center of rotation 33 mm above the detector surface. The systems were compared with regard to modulation transfer function (MTF), normalized noise power spectrum (NNPS), detective quantum efficiency (DQE) and a new metric, the relative object detectability (ROD). The ROD quantifies the relative performance of each detector at detecting specified objects.The system response function demonstrated excellent linearity (R 2 > 0.99). The CMOSbased detector had a high sensitivity, while the Anrad detector had a large dynamic range. The higher MTF and noise power spectrum (NPS) values were measured using an Anrad detector. The maximum DQE value of the Dexela detector was higher than that of the Anrad detector with a low exposure level, considering one projection exposure for tomosynthesis. Overall, the Dexela detector performed better than did the Anrad detector with regard to the simulated Al wires, spheres, test objects of ROD with low exposure level.In this study, we compared the newly developed prototype DBT system with two different types of x-ray detectors for commercial DBT systems. Our findings suggest that the Dexela detector can be applied to the DBT system with regard to its high imaging performance.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Thus, early diagnosis is of considerable importance. For early screening of lung cancer, computed tomography (CT) has been used as the gold standard. Chest digital tomosynthesis (CDT) is a recently introduced modality for lung cancer screening with a relatively low radiation dose compared to CT. The dual energy material decomposition method has been proposed for better detection of pulmonary nodules by means of reducing anatomical noise. In this study, the possibility of material decomposition in CDT was tested by both a simulation study and an experimental study using a CDT prototype. The Geant4 application for tomographic emission (GATE) v6 and tungsten anode spectral model using interpolating polynomials (TASMIP) codes were used for the simulation study to create simulated phantom shapes consisting of five inner cylinders filled with different densities of bone and airequivalent materials. Furthermore, the CDT prototype system and human phantom chest were used for the experimental study. CDT scan in both the simulation and experimental studies was performed with linear movement and 21 projection images were obtained over a 30 degree angular range with a 1.5 degree angular interval. To obtain materialselective images, a projectionbased energy subtraction technique was applied to high and low energy images. The resultant simulation images showed that dual-energy reconstruction could achieve an approximately 32% higher contrast to noise ratio (CNR) in images and the difference in CNR value according to bone density was significant compared to single energy CDT. Additionally, image artifacts were effectively corrected in dual energy CDT simulation studies. Likewise the experimental study with dual energy produced clear images of lung fields and bone structure by removing unnecessary anatomical structures. Dual energy tomosynthesis is a new technique; therefore, there is little guidance regarding its integration into clinical practice and this study can be used to improve the diagnostic efficiency of lung field and spinal bone screening using CDT. K: X-ray radiography and digital radiography (DR); Computerized Tomography (CT) and Computed Radiography (CR); Medical-image reconstruction methods and algorithms, computeraided diagnosis; Medical-image reconstruction methods and algorithms, computer-aided software 1Corresponding author.

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In vivo pre-clinical single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is a valuable tool for functional small animal imaging, but several physical factors, such as scatter radiation, limit the quantitative accuracy of conventional scintillation crystal-based SPECT. Semiconductor detectors such as CZT overcome these deficiencies through superior energy resolution. To our knowledge, little scientific information exists regarding the accuracy of quantitative analysis in CZT-based pre-clinical SPECT systems for different isotopes. The aim of this study was to assess the quantitative accuracy of CZT-based pre-clinical SPECT for four isotopes: 201 Tl, 99m Tc, 123 I, and 111 In. The quantitative accuracy of the CZT-based Triumph X-SPECT (Gamma-Medica Ideas, Northridge, CA, U.S.A.) was compared with that of a conventional SPECT using GATE simulation. Quantitative errors due to the attenuation and scatter effects were evaluated for all four isotopes with energy windows of 5%, 10%, and 20%. A spherical source containing the isotope was placed at the center of the air-or-water-filled mouse-sized cylinder phantom. The CZT-based pre-clinical SPECT was more accurate than the conventional SPECT. For example, in the conventional SPECT with an energy window of 10%, scatter effects degraded quantitative accuracy by up to 11.52%, 5.10%, 2.88%, and 1.84% for 201 Tl, 99m Tc, 123 I, and 111 In, respectively. However, with the CZT-based pre-clinical SPECT, the degradations were only 9.67%, 5.45%, 2.36%, and 1.24% for 201 Tl, 99m Tc, 123 I, and 111 In, respectively. As the energy window was increased, the quantitative errors increased in both SPECT systems. Additionally, the isotopes with lower energy of photon emissions had greater quantitative error. Our results demonstrated that the CZT-based pre-clinical SPECT had lower overall quantitative errors due to reduced scatter and high detection efficiency. Furthermore, the results of this systematic assessment quantifying the accuracy of these SPECT for various isotopes will provide valuable reference information for the design of CZT-based preclinical SPECT system imaging protocols.

A: Chest digital tomosynthesis (CDT) is a promising new modality that provides 3D information by reconstructing limited projection views. CDT systems have been developed to improve the limitations of conventional radiography such as image degradation and low sensitivity. However, the development of reconstruction methods is challenging because of the limited projection views within various angular ranges. Optimization of reconstruction parameters for various reconsturction methods in CDT system also is needed. The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of algebraic reconstruction technique (ART) method, and to evaluate the effect of the reconstruction parameters for our newly developed CDT system. We designed ART method with 41 projection views over an angular range of ±20°. To investigate the effect of reconstruction parameters, we measured the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), artifact spread function (ASF), and quality factor (QF) using LUNGMAN phantom included tumors. We found that the proper choice of reconstruction parameters such as relaxation parameter, initial guess, and number of iterations improved the quality of reconstructed images from the same projection views. Optimal values of ART relaxation parameter with uniform (UI) and back-projection (BP) initial guesses were 0.4 and 0.6, respectively. BP initial guess improved image quality in comparison with UI initial guess, in terms of providing a higher CNR and QF values with a faster speed. CNR and QF values improved with increasing number of iteration. Particularly, ART method with BP initial guess (when β = 0.6) after 3-terations provide satisfactory reconstructed image. In conclusion, the use of ART method with proper reconstruction parameters provided better image quality than FBP method as well as conventional radiography. These results indicated that the ART method with optimal reconstruction parameters could improve image quality for nodule detection using the CDT system. K: Image reconstruction in medical imaging; Computerized Tomography (CT) and Computed Radiography (CR)