A Study of Quasi-Monochromatic X-Ray Sources for Breast Cancer Early Detection

Objectives: Early detection and treatment provide the opportunity to decrease the mortality rate from breast cancer. Quasi-monochromatic technique can enhance low contrast lesion detection by eliminating beam-hardening artifacts. We hypothesized that this technique would be feasible and can be used to assist in breast cancer early detection. Methods: The performance of stationary Digital Breast Tomosynthesis with quasi-monochromatic X-ray sources was evaluated using both simulated and physical phantoms. Normalized spectra in the fraction of total photons vs. photon energy were generated. Results: As expected, the peaked energies from sources, from smallest to largest, are Mo/Mo, W/Ag-1000, and W/Ce-10, W/Ce-100. For contrast vs. noise standard deviation on the simulated CIRS phantom, W/Ce-100 and W/Ce-10 have similar performance on both low and high contrast objects. For low contrast object, W/Ce-100 is barely noticeably better than W/Ce-10, and they are better than both W/Ag-1000 and Mo/Mo. For high contrast objects W/Ce-10 is slightly better than W/Ce-100. The spectra of the implemented W/Ce-10 X-ray source were measured, which matched the simulation well. The contrast noise ratios of reconstructed objects in American College of Radiology mammographic phantom with and without using W/Ce-10 combination are 7.1 and 5.4, respectively. Conclusions: The combination of stationary digital breast tomosynthesis and quasi-monochromatic technique can compensate the loss of X-ray flux due to heavy K-edge filtering. This technique can enable the stationary DBT scanners to operate at acceptable scanning times with better low contrast lesion detectability. Advances in Knowledge: The stationary digital breast tomosynthesis can provide high quality images within short scanning time by using X-ray source array, which makes quasi-monochromatic technique feasible.

Adaptive bolus chasing computed tomography angiography by a local linear time and space parameter varying model:modeling,control,identification,and experimental results

A high contrast to noise ratio(CNR)is always desirable for contrast-enhanced computed tomography angiography(CTA).To ensure a high CNR of the vascular images in CTA and potentially reduce the radiation exposure and contrast usage,an adaptive bolus chasing method is proposed and evaluated compared to the existing constant-speed method.The proposed method is based on a local time and space parameter varying model of the contrast bolus.Optimal scan time for the next segment of the vasculature is estimated and predicted in real time and guides the computed tomography(CT)scanner table movement that guarantees that each segment of the vasculature is scanned with the maximum possible enhancement.Simulations and experimental results show that the proposed bolus chasing method outperforms the conventional constant-speed method substantially.