Program Information
Quantitative Contrast-Enhanced Spectral Mammography Based On Photon-Counting Detectors: A Feasibility Study
H Ding*, B Zhou , D Beidokhti , S Molloi , University of California, Irvine, CA
Presentations
WE-DE-207B-4 (Wednesday, August 3, 2016) 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM Room: 207B
Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of accurate quantification of iodine mass thickness in contrast-enhanced spectral mammography.
Methods: Experimental phantom studies were performed on a spectral mammography system based on Si strip photon-counting detectors. Dual-energy images were acquired using 40 kVp and a splitting energy of 34 keV with 3 mm Al pre-filtration. The initial calibration was done with glandular and adipose tissue equivalent phantoms of uniform thicknesses and iodine disk phantoms of various concentrations. A secondary calibration was carried out using the iodine signal obtained from the dual-energy decomposed images and the known background phantom thicknesses and densities. The iodine signal quantification method was validated using phantoms composed of a mixture of glandular and adipose materials, for various breast thicknesses and densities. Finally, the traditional dual-energy weighted subtraction method was also studied as a comparison. The measured iodine signal from both methods was compared to the known iodine concentrations of the disk phantoms to characterize the quantification accuracy.
Results: There was good agreement between the iodine mass thicknesses measured using the proposed method and the known values. The root-mean-square (RMS) error was estimated to be 0.2 mg/cm2. The traditional weighted subtraction method also predicted a linear correlation between the measured signal and the known iodine mass thickness. However, the correlation slope and offset values were strongly dependent on the total breast thickness and density.
Conclusion: The results of the current study suggest that iodine mass thickness can be accurately quantified with contrast-enhanced spectral mammography. The quantitative information can potentially improve the differentiation between benign and malignant legions.
Funding Support, Disclosures, and Conflict of Interest: Grant funding from Philips Medical Systems.
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