Contrast-enhanced spectral mammography with a compact synchrotron source

Abstract

For early breast cancer detection, mammography is nowadays the commonly used standard imaging approach, offering a valuable clinical tool for visualization of suspicious findings like microcalcifications and tumors within the breast. However, due to the superposition of anatomical structures, the sensitivity of mammography screening is limited. Within the last couple of years, the implementation of contrast-enhanced spectral mammography (CESM) based on K-edge subtraction (KES) imaging helped to improve the identification and classification of uncertain findings. In this study, we introduce another approach for CESM based on a two-material decomposition, with which we expect fundamental improvements compared to the clinical procedure. We demonstrate the potential of our proposed method using the quasi-monochromatic radiation of a compact synchrotron source—the Munich Compact Light Source (MuCLS)—and a modified mammographic accreditation phantom. For direct comparison with the clinical CESM approach, we also performed a standard dual-energy KES at the MuCLS, which outperformed the clinical CESM images in terms of contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and spatial resolution. However, the dual-energy-based two-material decomposition approach achieved even higher CNR values. Our experimental results with quasi-monochromatic radiation show a significant improvement of the image quality at lower mean glandular dose (MGD) than the clinical CESM. At the same time, our study indicates the great potential for the material-decomposition instead of clinically used KES to improve the quantitative outcome of CESM.

Association between quantitative and qualitative image features of contrast-enhanced mammography and molecular subtypes of breast cancer

“…Where D l represents the mean density value of the lesion ROI, D b represents the mean density value of the background ROI, and σ b represents the standard deviation value of the background ROI (29). The mean lesion density, SD of lesion density, RDE, and CNR values were extracted separately using CC and MLO view images, and the higher values were regarded as the final results (Figure 2).…”

Dual-Energy X-ray Medical Imaging with Inverse Compton Sources: A Simulation Study

“…To our knowledge, this is the first time that such a systematic study is carried out. Indeed, other studies aimed at exploring the potential of ICS beams in KES imaging, both in mammography [58] and coronary angiography [37,38], were carried out experimentally at a fixed machine setup. These proof-of-principle studies demonstrate the general feasibility of KES imaging with ICS sources, but they considered only a limited number of configurations and the results regarding the coronary angiography were obtained with very high contrast medium concentrations if compared to the actual ones.…”

Design and use of computational models for contrast-enhanced spectral mammography

“…Modelling of detector noise was not concerned in this simulation study. The final intensity images were based on the Beer's law: (1) where µ(x,y,z) is the spatially dependent linear attenuation coefficient, l is the path length through the object and I 0 is the intensity of radiation at the source segment that emits to the area of the detector, taken equal for all viewing angles.…”

“…Small cancerous lesions are difficult to detect in women with dense breasts. The overlap of diagnostic relevant tissue structures in women with dense breasts and the applied dose that is limited due to the radiation susceptibility of the breast are some of the main issues in breast imaging (1). A new technology for early detection of breast cancer is the contrastenhanced spectral mammography (CESM), a novel Medical University of Varna Design and Use of Computational Models for Contrast-Enhanced Spectral Mammography et al (8), proposed a phantom, designed as a box of parallelepipedal shape, made of PMMA and filled with a large number of PMMA spheres of different diameters, embedded in a paraffin wax.…”