Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
5493041 | Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment | 2017 | 22 Pages |
Abstract
The aim of this work was to present an experimental dual energy (DE) method for the visualization of microcalcifications (μCs). A modified radiographic X-ray tube combined with a high resolution complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) active pixel sensor (APS) X-ray detector was used. A 40/70 kV spectral combination was filtered with 100 μm cadmium (Cd) and 1000 μm copper (Cu) for the low/high-energy combination. Homogenous and inhomogeneous breast phantoms and two calcification phantoms were constructed with various calcification thicknesses, ranging from 16 to 152 μm. Contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) was calculated from the DE subtracted images for various entrance surface doses. A calcification thickness of 152 μm was visible, with mean glandular doses (MGD) in the acceptable levels (below 3 mGy). Additional post-processing on the DE images of the inhomogeneous breast phantom resulted in a minimum visible calcification thickness of 93 μm (MGD=1.62 mGy). The proposed DE method could potentially improve calcification visibility in DE breast calcification imaging.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Physics and Astronomy
Instrumentation
Authors
Vaia Koukou, Niki Martini, George Fountos, Christos Michail, Panagiota Sotiropoulou, Athanasios Bakas, Nektarios Kalyvas, Ioannis Kandarakis, Robert Speller, George Nikiforidis,