DIGITAL MAMMOGRAPHY HIGH RESOLUTION FLAT PANEL IMAGER

描述（改编自申请人的摘要）：这是一项生物工程 麻省大学医学院与洛克希德·马丁公司之间的研究合作 公司。它旨在开发和评估新的高分辨率 具有可变像素尺寸（40 微米和 80 微米）的平板乳腺 X 线成像仪 微米），使用平铺电荷耦合器件（CCD）。探测器将覆盖 区域与传统乳腺X线摄影的敏感区域基本相同 盒式磁带。具体假设是：（a）新成像仪将表现出更好的性能 检测量子效率 (DQE) 高于当前的屏幕胶片技术。 (二) 与当前的屏幕胶片不同，该系统将表现出更高的动态范围。 (三) 空间分辨率将高于当前的平板成像系统 由于较小的像素尺寸和 100% 的填充因子。 (d) 对比 将明显优于现有的屏幕胶片系统 在减少辐射剂量的情况下更好地观察乳房解剖结构 由于 DQE 的改善，患者得到了改善。 (e) 精心设计的乳腺X线摄影系统驱动 在优化的采集模式下将取代屏幕胶片系统 全乳腺乳房X线摄影成像。初步计算和实验 研究表明这种类型的 CCD 平板探测器是可行的。的 实验计划要求综合评估特征 系统的检测和评估客观且普遍 可接受的指标，例如空间相关的调制传递函数 和 DQE。申请人报告了 100 微米像素 GE 临床的经验 筛选人群中的评估原型，这似乎表明 具有相似灵敏度的癌症检测的等效性。然而，有 担心更微妙的钙化形式，例如点状和 无定形。当看到钙时，边缘清晰度似乎没有 与现场电影视图的清晰度相同。这些问题可能与 探测器的像素尺寸相对较大（100 微米）。申请人 建议开发和评估下一代高分辨率数字 乳腺X线摄影具有高空间分辨率并且不会造成有害的损失 信噪比，这在老一代中很常见， 使用缩小光纤。所提出的原型使用一系列 无缝平铺的 CCD 通过一个耦合器与结构化 CsI:TI 闪烁体耦合 非锥形光纤板将提供比任何 其他平板乳腺X线摄影探测器。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from Applicant's Abstract): This is a Bioengineering Research Partnership between UMass Medical School and Lockheed-Martin Corporation. It is aimed at developing and evaluating a new high resolution flat panel mammographic imager with a variable pixel size (40 microns and 80 microns) using tiled charged-coupled devices (CCD). The detector will cover an area essentially the same as the sensitive area of a conventional mammographic cassette. The specific hypotheses are: (a) the new imager will exhibit better detective quantum efficiency (DQE) than current screen-film technology. (b) Unlike current screen-film, the system will exhibit higher dynamic range. (c) The spatial resolution will be higher than current flat-panel imaging systems due to the smaller pixel size and 100 percent fill factor. (d) The contrast will be significantly better than existing screen-film systems resulting in better visualization of breast anatomy at a reduced radiation dose to the patient due to the improved DQE. (e) A well-designed mammographic system driven in an optimized acquisition mode will replace screen-film systems for full-breast mammographic imaging. Preliminary computational and experimental studies suggest that a CCD flat panel detector of this type is feasible. The experimental plan calls for comprehensive evaluation of the characteristics of the detector and evaluation of the system though objective and universally accepted metrics such as the spatially dependent modulation transfer function and DQE. The applicants report experience with the 100 micron pixel GE clinical evaluation prototype in a screening population, which appears to demonstrate equivalency for cancer detection with similar sensitivities. However, there are concerns about of the more subtle forms of calcifications such as punctate and amorphous. When calcium is seen the edge sharpness does not appear to have the same sharpness as that of spot film views. These problems may be related to the relatively large pixel size (100 microns) of the detector. The applicants propose to develop and evaluate the next generation of high resolution digital mammography with high spatial resolution and without the detrimental loss in the signal-to-noise ratio, which is common with the older generation, which uses demagnifying fiberoptics. The proposed prototype using an array of seamlessly tiled CCDs coupled to a structured CsI:TI scintillator by a non-tapering fiberoptic plate will deliver the highest resolution than any other flat panel mammographic detector.