Addressing the Challenges in Transitioning from Mammography to Breast Tomosynthe*

描述(申请人提供)：这一K25奖项将用于为米妮·达斯博士成功过渡，她是一名物理学家和光学工程师，将她的技能应用于乳房成像的临床相关研究。她的长期目标是成为这一领域的独立研究人员，并开发一项研究计划，将创新物理学与深入了解相关生物过程、最先进的成像技术和早期乳腺癌检测的实际临床需求相结合。在这份提案中，达斯博士将解决从2D乳房X光检查过渡到3D乳房图像的一些现有挑战。数字乳腺摄影(DM)对浸润性导管癌(DCIS)的主要先兆微钙化(MC)具有很高的诊断率。虽然数字乳房断层合成术(DBT)是一种等待FDA批准的方法，但尚不清楚它是否已被证明足够好，可以取代DM。由于MC和MASS的衰减特性和大小/结构的不同，很难从同一重建图像中优化DBT系统以获得MC和MASS检测的最佳性能。鉴于这些不同的挑战，本文提出的可变剂量DBT(VD-DBT)技术的评估具有很高的意义。这里，可以同时获取相当于DM的中心投影切片(主要用于MC检测)和3D重建图像(主要用于质量检测)。这种方法还将为放射科医生提供平稳过渡，以尽可能低的总剂量同时获得乳房X光摄影图像和3D重建图像。我们建议的第二部分是研究一种先验可调的惩罚性最大似然(PML)重建方法，该方法可以使低噪声图像具有更好的信噪比和边缘保护效果，从而提高使用3D重建图像检测肿块的性能。考虑到需要减少任何建议的乳房筛查方式(如DBT)的总成像剂量，这一点也具有非常重要的意义。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This K25 award will be used for successful transition for Dr. Mini Das, who is a physicist and optical engineer, to apply her skills to clinically relevant research in breast imaging. Her long-term goals are to be an independent researcher in this area and to develop a research program combining innovative physics with a thorough understanding of relevant biological processes, state of the art imaging techniques and real clinical needs for early stage breast cancer detection. In this proposal, Dr. Das will address some of the existing challenges in transitioning from 2D mammography to 3D breast images. Digital mammography (DM) has shown very high rate of detectability for microcalcifications (MCs), which are the primary precursor for invasive ductal carcinoma (DCIS). While digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) is a modality waiting for FDA approval, it is not clear if it has been proven good enough to replace DM. Due to the differences in the attenuation properties and size/structure between MCs and masses, it is difficult to optimize DBT systems for best performance for both MC and mass detection from the same reconstructed image In light of these various challenges, the evaluation of the proposed variable dose DBT (VD-DBT) technique proposed here is of high significance. Here, a central projection slice equivalent to DM (primarily for MC detection) and a 3D reconstruction image (primarily for mass detection) can be acquired simultaneously. This method will also provide a smooth transition for the radiologists to obtain both a mammographic image and a 3D reconstructed image simultaneously with the lowest possible total dose. The second part of our proposal to investigate a penalised maximum likelihood (PML) reconstruction method with adjustable priors that can enable low noise image with improved SNR and edge preserving effects can improve the detection of masses using the 3D reconstructed image. This is also highly significant considering the need to reduce the total imaging dose in any proposed breast screening modality like DBT.