This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a self-supervised deep learning based noise reduction algorithm at improving the detectability of phantom images acquired from the phase-sensitive breast tomosynthesis (PBT) system.
An ACR mammography phantom and three different Contrast Detail (CD) phantoms were used in experiments. Each phantom is 5cm in thickness and fabricated with materials simulating 50% glandular tissue and 50% adipose tissue. The phantoms were imaged by 59kV and 89kV with varying levels of external filtrations. The x-ray exposure was adjusted so that the average glandular dose was consistently to be 1.3 mGy throughout the imaging.
A noise reduction algorithm was applied to the images. The algorithm being evaluated is a state-of-the-art self-supervised single image denoising approach that can prioritize the preservation of fine-grained image structures while performing noise removal.
The contrast-to-noise (CNR) ratio was measured to conduct objective analysis. Additionally, an observer performance study was conducted in which observers were shown the images from each phantom in a randomized order before and after the denoising algorithm was applied. The observers rated the detectability of each image by identifying the minimum perceptible feature.
The results indicate some improvement from the objective studies; however, in the subjective observer studies, no improvement was observed in the detectability of the ACR images, and limited improvement was observed in the detectability of the CD phantom images.
X-ray phase sensitive imaging has been employed in the preclinical settings for more than two decades. The advancement in the technology has allowed to potentially translate this innovative imaging technique to the clinical environment. In-line phase sensitive imaging technique has shown promising potential to be used for breast cancer imaging. A high energy phase sensitive breast tomosynthesis (PBT) prototype system based on the inline phase sensitive imaging technique has been developed for the potential imaging in clinical environment. The prototype system incorporates a microfocus x-ray tube and a flat panel detector having a pixel pitch of 70μm. The microfocus x-ray tube has a tungsten (W) anode, Beryllium (Be) output window and a focal spot size that ranges from 18-50μm, depending on the output power. The x-ray tube/detector configuration produces a geometric magnification (M) of 2.2 and acquires 9 projection views within 15 degrees or 30 projection views within 30 degrees in stop-andshoot scanning mode. A single distance phase retrieval scheme method based on the Phase-Attenuation Duality (PAD) principle is applied on the angular projection views. A filtered back-projection operation reconstructs a set of tomogram slices at 1mm incremental depth within the breast along the z-direction. American College of Radiology phantom images demonstrate that both 2D and tomosynthesis images acquired on the prototype system meet the minimum criteria set by the Mammography Quality Standard Act. We have also imaged mastectomy specimens with the PBT prototype system at the University of Utah Huntsman Cancer Hospital. PBT 2D images and tomosynthesis images slices demonstrate image quality comparable to a conventional digital breast tomosynthesis clinical system.
The goal of this study was to perform a characterization study for an in-line phase contrast x-ray imaging prototype with a mid-energy source. Compared to similar prototypes that use high energies, the mid-energy system offers better balancing between the attenuation and phase induced contrasts. An inline phase sensitive prototype acquired all images for this study. The prototype utilizes a microfocus x-ray tube and a flat panel detector, aligned on an optical rail. The source-to-object distance (SOD) was set to 68.58cm while the source-to-image distance (SID) was set to 150.876cm for a magnification of 𝑀 = 2.2. The modulation transfer function (MTF), noise power spectrum (NPS), and detective quantum efficiency (DQE) were calculated for the prototype with source potentials of 60, 90, and 120kV. The oversampled MTF was calculated for each setting. NPS experiments were conducted with a virtual detector set at the SOD. Exposure at the SID was approximately the same for all NPS experiments. The 90 and 120kVp beams were directed through a 2.5mm Al filter, while 60kVp beams were sent through a 1.2mm Al filter. Results indicate that 60kV imaging yields lower amplitude noise than high energy imaging, while maintaining the same resolving power. The cutoff frequency for each source potential was approximately 14 line pairs per mm (lp/mm). The DQE(0) for 60kV, 90kV, and 120kV were 0.757, 0.564, and 0.571 respectively. The study confirmed the hypothesis that 60kVp phase sensitive x-ray imaging yields a higher DQE than those found at 90 and 120kVp.
Mammographic studies have always been a challenge in women with large or dense breasts. A contrast-detail (CD) phantom and an American College of Radiology (ACR) accredited phantom are used in this study to compare the detectability of the mid-energy phase-contrast x-ray imaging system and conventional x-ray imaging mode among women with hyper-glandular breast tissue. Insert wax from ACR phantom and the contrast-detail test pattern are both inserted between two 70/30 glandular-adipose tissue equivalent plates, to simulate a 5 cm thick compressed dense breast. Both phantoms are imaged by the two modalities: (a): the x-ray bench-top imaging system in contact mode, similar to conventional mammography, operated at 35kV with 0.5 mm aluminum filter, and (b): the mid-energy in-line phasesensitive prototype, which is operated at 59kV, 1.3 mm aluminum filter and the magnification factor of 2.5. Both imaging systems applied an average glandular radiation dose of 1.6 mGy. The results show that the image of ACR phantom which is acquired by mid-energy phase-contrast imaging system reveals more embedded objects within the phantom compare to conventional imaging system under the similar average glandular dose. The contrast-detail curves for CD phantom, obtained from two imaging prototypes, confirm the superior detectability of phase contrast imaging system. Therefore, this preliminary experiment demonstrates that mid-energy phase-contrast x-ray imaging system exceeds the performance of conventional mammography in hyper-glandular breast tissue at the equal level of radiation dose to the patients.
The objective of this study was to demonstrate the capability of the high-energy in-line phase contrast imaging in detecting the breast tumors which are undetectable by conventional x-ray imaging but detectable by ultrasound. Experimentally, a CIRS multipurpose breast phantom with heterogeneous 50% glandular and 50% adipose breast tissue was imaged by high-energy in-line phase contrast system, conventional x-ray system and ultrasonography machine. The high-energy in-line phase contrast projection was acquired at 120 kVp, 0.3 mAs with the focal spot size of 18.3 μm. The conventional x-ray projection was acquired at 40 kVp, 3.3 mAs with the focal spot size of 22.26 μm. Both of the x-ray imaging acquisitions were conducted with a unique mean glandular dose of 0.08 mGy. As the result, the high-energy in-line phase contrast system was able to detect one lesion-like object which was also detected by the ultrasonography. This object was spherical shape with the length of about 12.28 mm. Also, the conventional x-ray system was not able to detect any objects. This result indicated the advantages provided by high-energy in-line phase contrast over conventional x-ray system in detecting lesion-like object under the same radiation dose. To meet the needs of current clinical strategies for high-density breasts screening, breast phantoms with higher glandular densities will be employed in future studies.
In this study, the AuNP k-shell fluorescence spectra were measured by using a 100 mm long collimator to improve the detectability. The AuNPs were suspended in deionized water at different concentrations. The AuNP suspensions were excited by a micro focal spot x-ray tube with 130 kVp, 300 μA x-ray exposures. The emissions of the AuNP fluorescence were measured by a spectrometer located with an angle of 90 degrees with respect to the excitation beam. The fluorescence acquisition durations for each concentration mode were 3000 s. A 1.0 mm Pb filter and a 1 mm Al filter were utilized to optimize excitation beam and fluorescence emission, respectively. As a result, the k-shell fluorescence peaks, 66.99 keV and 68.80 keV of AuNP, were measured and observed in 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.8, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0 mg/mL concentration modes. The linear relationship between the AuNP suspension concentrations and the number of photons of the fluorescence peaks were observed in the range of 0.1–4.0 mg/mL. The results of experimental measurements demonstrated up to 0.1 mg/mL (0.01 % in weight concentration) detectability.
The objective of this study was to compare the detectability of simulated objects within a dense breast phantom using high energy x-rays for phase sensitive breast imaging in comparison with a conventional imaging system. A 5 cm thick phantom was used which represented a compressed breast consisting of 70% glandular and 30% adipose tissue ratio in non-uniform background. The phantom had a 6 × 6 matrix of holes with milled depths ranging from 1 to 0.1 mm and diameters ranging from 4.25 to 0.25 mm representing simulated tumors. The in-line phase sensitive prototype was equipped with a micro-focus x-ray source and a flat panel detector with a 50 μm pixel pitch, both mounted on an optical rail. Phase contrast image of the phantom was acquired at 120 kVp, 4.5 mAs at source to object distance (SOD) of 68 cm and source to image detector distance (SIDD) of 170 cm with a geometric magnification (M) of 2.5. A 2.5 mm aluminum (Al) filter was used for beam hardening. The conventional image was acquired using the same porotype with the phantom in contact with the detector at 40 kVp, 12.5 mAs under SID = 68 cm. The mean glandular dose (Dg) for both the acquisitions was 1.3 mGy. The observer study and CNR analyses indicated that the phase contrast image had higher disk detectability as compared to the conventional image. The edge enhancement provided by the phase sensitive images warrants in identifying boundaries of malignant tissues and in providing optimal results in phase retrieval process. The potential demonstrated by this study for imaging a dense breast with a high energy phase sensitive x-ray imaging to improve tumor detection in warrants further investigation of this technique.
The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the feasibility of using a high-energy in-line phase contrast tomosynthesis system to quantitatively imaging microbubbles in a tissue simulating phantom under a limited radiation dose. The imaging system used in the investigation was a bench top in-line phase contrast tomosynthesis prototype operated under 120 kVp tube voltage and 0.5 mA tube current. A prime beam filter made of 2.3 mm Cu, 0.8 mm Pb and 1.0 mm Al was employed to obtain as large as possible portion of x-ray photon energy higher than 60 keV. The tissue simulating phantom was built by three acrylic slabs and a wax slab to mimic a 40 mm thick compressed breast. There were two tiny-sized structures with average 1 mm depth engraved on the two different layers. The microbubble suspensions with different concentrations were injected into those tiny structures. The inline phase contrast angular projections acquired were used to reconstruct the in-plane slices of the tiny structures on different layers. The CNRs vs microbubble concentrations were investigated. As the result, the microbubble suspensions were clearly visible, showing higher CNR when compared with the areas with no microbubble. Furthermore, a monotonously increasing relation between CNRs and microbubble concentrations was observed after calculating the area CNR of the phase contrast tomosynthesis slices.
This study compares the spatial resolution in step-and-shoot and continuous motion acquisition modes of digital tomosynthesis using a bench-top prototype designed for breast phantoms imaging. The prototype employs a flat panel detector with a 50 μm pixel pitch, a micro focus x-ray tube and a motorized stage. A sharp metal edge with a thickness of 0.2 mm was used to measure the modulation transfer function (MTF). The edge was rotated from −7.5° to +7.5° with 1.5° increments to acquire 11 angular projections using 40 kVp, 500 μA with 5.55 s per projection. In continuous motion mode, the motorized stage moved the test object for the whole exposure time at a speed of 0.377 mm/s. The impact of acquisition speed in continuous DBT was also investigated, and a high speed of 0.753 mm/s was used. In step-and-shoot mode, the cutoff frequencies (10% MTF) in projection view (0°) and reconstructed DBT slices were 5.55 lp/mm and 4.95 lp/mm. Spatial resolution dropped in the continuous motion mode of the DBT due to the blur caused by the rotation of the stage and the cutoff frequencies reduced to 3.6 lp/mm and 3.18 lp/mm in the projection view (0º) and reconstructed DBT slices. At high rotational speed in continuous motion mode, the cutoff frequencies in the DBT slices dropped by 17 % to 2.65 lp/mm. Rotational speed of the rotation stage and spatial resolution are interconnected. Hence, reducing the motion blur in the continuous acquisition mode is important to maintain high spatial resolution for diagnostic purposes.
KEYWORDS: Modulation transfer functions, X-rays, Optical filters, Aluminum, Prototyping, Molybdenum, Phase contrast, Rhodium, Imaging systems, Signal to noise ratio
The objective of this research is to characterize the detective quantum efficiency (DQE) of a high-energy in-line phase contrast prototype operated under different x-ray exposure conditions.
First of all, an imaging prototype was demonstrated based on a high-energy in-line phase contrast system prototype. The DQE of this system is calculated through modulation transfer function (MTF), noise power spectrum (NPS) and input signal to noise ratio under a fixed radiation dose. The radiation dose was estimated by employing a 4-cm-thick BR12 phantom. In this research, the x-ray exposure conditions were modified by not only using different tube voltage but also different prime beam filtration. Aluminum, Molybdenum, Rhodium, and a combined filter were selected to acquire a variety of x-ray energy compositions with 100, 110 and 120 kVp exposures. The resultant curves are compared through the modes of different kVp/same filter and different filter/same kVp.
As a result, the curves obtained under a fixed radiation dose, indicate that the MTF performs similar behavior under different experimental mode; the NPS is majorly affected by the composition of x-ray photon energies; and the overall DQE decreases with the increasing portion of high-energy x-ray photons in the exposure.
A significant challenge in the field of mammography that has yet to be overcome involves providing adequate image
quality for detection and diagnosis, while minimizing the radiation dose to the patient. An emerging x-ray technology,
high energy phase contrast imaging holds the potential to reduce the patient dose without compromising the image
quality, which would benefit the early detection of breast cancer. The purpose of this preliminary study was to compare
the image quality of high energy phase contrast images to conventional x-ray images at typical mammography energies.
The experimental settings were selected to provide similar entrance exposures for the high and low energy images.
Several phantoms were utilized in this study to provide a comprehensive image quality comparison, in an effort to
investigate the clinical potential of high energy phase contrast imaging. An ACR phantom was utilized for quantitative
comparison through an observer study, while a new tissue-equivalent phantom was utilized for a qualitative
investigation. Finally, an acrylic-edge phantom was employed to provide an illustration of the edge enhancement in the
phase contrast images as compared to the conventional images. The results from the multi-faceted comparison indicate
the potential of high energy phase contrast imaging to provide comparable image quality at a similar or decreased patient
dose.
Our goal was to evaluate the error contributed by photon fluence measurements to the detective quantum efficiency (DQE) of an x-ray imaging system. The investigation consisted of separate error analyses for the exposure and spectrum measurements that determine the photon fluence. Methods were developed for each to determine the number of measurements required to achieve an acceptable error. A new method for calculating the magnification factor in the exposure measurements was presented and compared to the existing method. The new method not only produces much lower error at small source-to-image distances (SIDs) such as clinical systems, but is also independent of SID. The exposure and spectra results were combined to determine the photon fluence error contribution to the DQE of 4%. The error in this study is small because the measurements resulted from precisely controlled experimental procedures designed to minimize the error. However, these procedures are difficult to follow in clinical environments, and application of this method on clinical systems could therefore provide important insight into error reduction. This investigation was focused on the error in the photon fluence contribution to the DQE, but the error analysis method can easily be extended to a wide range of applications.
The measurements of x-ray spectra and photon fluence are of significant importance in medical imaging applications.
The complexity of the spectral measurements and photon fluence calculation leads to possible errors which
may come from various sources. The focus of this project is to study the mathematical method to determine
the uncertainty that is propagated from the energy calibration process into the photon fluence calculation. In
order to form a basis for the uncertainty analysis, a straightforward derivation on the calculation of the photon
fluence based on spectral and exposure measurements is provided. Then the uncertainty in the determination
of the energy-channel linear relationship is calculated. Instead of using this linear relationship to calibrate the
measured spectra, we calibrate the mass energy absorption coefficients, in an effort to separate the calibration
uncertainty from the measurement uncertainty in the spectra, and to simplify the subsequent derivation on
uncertainty propagation. Finally, the formula on the uncertainty in photon fluence that is from the calibration
process is derived.
Conventional x-ray imaging presents challenges for early detection and diagnosis, especially in areas such as
mammography, where similar attenuation characteristics between malignant and normal breast tissue result in low
contrast between them. An emerging technology called phase-contrast x-ray imaging has the potential to overcome this
challenge by also incorporating phase shift effects, which contain more information than attenuation alone. The goal of
this study was to verify through the accepted technique of contrast-detail analysis that the image quality provided by a
phase-contrast prototype system is superior to that provided by a conventional imaging system. The use of a CDMAM
phantom further reinforces the validity of the results, as this method has been proven to increase the accuracy, because it
employs a four-alternative fixed choice method for the test objects instead of known locations. In the study, phasecontrast
and conventional images of a CDMAM phantom were acquired and presented to observers for analysis. The
corresponding contrast-detail curves comparing the systems demonstrate higher image quality produced by the phase-contrast
system, an encouraging indication of the future of phase-contrast technology and a step forward in proving the
feasibility of its introduction into a clinical environment.
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