Aminzadeh, A, Arhatari, BD, Maksimenko, A, Hall, CJ, Hausermann, D, Peele, AG, Fox, J, Kumar, B, Prodanovic, Z, Dimmock, MR, Lockie, D, Pavlov, KM, Nesterets, YI, Thompson, D, Mayo, SC, Paganin, DM, Taba, ST, Lewis, S, Brennan, PC, Quiney, HM and Gureyev, TE (2022) Imaging Breast Microcalcifications Using Dark-Field Signal in Propagation-Based Phase-Contrast Tomography. IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 41 (11). 2980 - 2990. ISSN 0278-0062

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Abstract

Breast microcalcifications are an important primary radiological indicator of breast cancer. However, microcalcification classification and diagnosis may be still challenging for radiologists due to limitations of the standard 2D mammography technique, including spatial and contrast resolution. In this study, we propose an approach to improve the detection of microcalcifications in propagation-based phase-contrast X-ray computed tomography of breast tissues. Five fresh mastectomies containing microcalcifications were scanned at different X-ray energies and radiation doses using synchrotron radiation. Both bright-field (i.e. conventional phase-retrieved images) and dark-field images were extracted from the same data sets using different image processing methods. A quantitative analysis was performed in terms of visibility and contrast-to-noise ratio of microcalcifications. The results show that while the signal-to-noise and the contrast-to-noise ratios are lower, the visibility of the microcalcifications is more than two times higher in the dark-field images compared to the bright-field images. Dark-field images have also provided more accurate information about the size and shape of the microcalcifications.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: The final version of this article and all relevant information related to it, including copyrights, can be found on the publisher website.
Uncontrolled Keywords: Breast; X-ray imaging; Computed tomography; Australia; Imaging; Breast cancer; Detectors; dark-field imaging; microcalcifications; propagation-based phase-contrast CT
Subjects: R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
R Medicine > RC Internal medicine
Divisions: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > School of Allied Health Professions
Related URLs:
Depositing User: Symplectic
Date Deposited: 12 Jan 2023 13:02
Last Modified: 20 Feb 2023 11:24
URI: https://eprints.keele.ac.uk/id/eprint/11831

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