A Novel Low Dose and Accurate Phase Sensitive Breast Tomosynthesis (PBT) System based on Photon Counting Detector Technology for Cancer Imaging

一种新的低剂量、高精度相敏乳腺断层扫描系统 用于肿瘤成像的光子计数探测器技术 项目总结： 该项目将致力于建立临床驱动的相敏乳房断层合成(PBT)成像系统。 利用光子计数X射线探测器技术降低辐射剂量，提高测量精度 相位恢复方法。数字乳房断层合成(DBT)和PBT原型使用能量整合 在低剂量水平下引入相当大的电子噪声的探测器，这限制了降低总剂量的能力 剂量。随着多色X射线束的光谱平均，定量信息，如 在相敏成像中，组织的投影电子密度不能像相位恢复那样被准确地反演 方法严格适用于单色X射线束。人们可以使用能量分辨光谱仪来 抑制电子噪声，充分利用相位恢复过程。然而，这样的一个 这种方法将非常耗时，而且不能在临床上实现。我们建议利用光子 计数探测器技术和相敏成像技术，以解决所述的限制。光子 计数探测器具有消除电子噪声的能力，潜在地允许相敏成像 在降低辐射剂量水平的同时保持良好的成像质量、增强的组织对比度、 和组织类型识别能力。通过窄能盒成像，光子计数探测器限制了 多色X射线束中各种光子能量的贡献，这将潜在地有助于 准确地检索组织的定量信息。这样一种乳腺癌成像技术是 既不是可用的，也不是优化的。这是本提案提出的主要目标：(1)开发内联 结合了高分辨率二维光子计数探测器的PBT原型。我们将全力 对光谱PBT进行表征，测定探测量子效率，测量空间分辨率， 评价噪声特性、计数率性能，确定能量仓的宽度和位置； 优化相位恢复方法以准确量化相图和投射电子 乳腺组织的密度；(3)与现有的图像质量和剂量节约比较 利用能量集成探测器的PBT原型和DBT系统。拟议的项目将进一步 促进乳房相敏成像应用于临床，提高敏感度 在降低辐射剂量的同时，提高乳腺癌检测的特异性。

A Novel Low Dose and Accurate Phase Sensitive Breast Tomosynthesis (PBT) System based on Photon Counting Detector Technology for Cancer Imaging Project Summary: This project will focus to build a clinically driven phase sensitive breast tomosynthesis (PBT) imaging system using the photon counting x-ray detector technology to reduce the radiation dose and improve the accuracy of phase retrieval methods. Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and PBT prototypes use the energy integrating detectors which introduce considerable electronic noise at low dose levels that limit the ability to reduce the total dose. With the spectral averaging of polychromatic x-ray beams, the quantitative information such as the projected electron densities of tissues is not accurately retrieved in phase sensitive imaging as the phase retrieval methods hold rigorously for monochromatic x-ray beams. One can employ energy resolving spectrometer to suppress the electronic noise and take the full advantage of the phase retrieval process. However, such an approach will be time-consuming and cannot be realized in the clinical world. We propose the utilization of photon counting detector technology with phase sensitive imaging technique to address the stated limitations. Photon counting detectors with their ability to eliminate the electronic noise potentially allow the phase sensitive imaging of breast at reduced radiation dose levels while preserving excellent imaging quality, enhanced tissue contrast, and tissue type identification capabilities. With narrow energy bin imaging, photon counting detectors limit the contributions of various photon energies in the polychromatic x-ray beam, and this will potentially help in accurately retrieving the quantitative information of the tissue. Such a technology for breast cancer imaging is neither available nor optimized. These are the primary aims proposed in this proposal: (1) Developing an inline PBT prototype that incorporates a high-resolution two-dimensional photon counting detector. We will fully characterize the spectral PBT; determining the detective quantum efficiency, measuring the spatial resolution, evaluating the noise properties, count rate performance, determining the width and location of energy bin; (2) Optimizing the phase retrieval methods for accurate quantification of the phase maps and projected electron densities of the breast tissues; (3) Conducting the image quality and dose saving comparisons with the existing PBT prototypes and DBT systems that utilize the energy integrating detectors. The proposed project will further facilitate the translation of the phase sensitive imaging of breast to the clinical world and enhance the sensitivity and specificity of breast cancer detection while reducing the radiation dose.