DIFFRACTION ENHANCED IMAGING APPLIED TO MAMMOGRAPHY

描述(摘自申请者摘要)：筛查乳房X光检查 已证明是一种检测早期乳腺癌的有效方法。 然而，很大一部分癌症由于致密而逃过了检测。 腺体组织掩盖了潜在的病理。绕射增强 X射线成像(DEI)有可能极大地改变乳房X光检查和 一般的放射照相术。作为x射线乳房X光摄影术的一部分专门开发的 利用来自同步加速器源的单色x射线的程序，这 技术已经产生了测试对象和问题的图像，其对比度和 信息量远远超过常规技术。初步工作： 人类乳腺癌标本表明DEI图像包含信息 关于病变的具体物理特征，包括边界 常规成像无法检测到的细节和相关特征。 这个项目的长期目标是开发一个基于临床的dei系统。 做乳房X光检查。该计划的第一阶段是确定最佳设计 用于改进乳房病变可视化的参数，并使用这些参数 开发临床DeI系统的概念设计的参数。这个 同步加速器提供了执行这些先导研究的理想环境，因为 它提供了一个非常强的、准直的和可调的x射线源。 具体地说，一项对患有癌症的人类乳腺组织样本的研究将是 对DEI参数进行系统评估，包括 提示乳腺癌的结构的可见性--即毛刺 建筑变形和钙化。这项研究将包括 评估各种DEI参数，包括成像能量、 折射/散射抑制灵敏度，“摇摆曲线”上的位置，以及 X射线光学几何学。这项研究的目的是为了优化DEI 临床任务。这将允许我们指定x射线源、x射线光学器件、 以及基于临床的系统的检测方法要求。由于…… 这项工作的申请人建议开发一个临床概念设计 使用DEI的乳房X光照相系统。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from Applicant's Abstract): Screening mammography has proven to be an effective procedure for the detection of early breast cancer. However, a significant fraction of cancer escapes detection due to dense glandular tissue which obscures the underlying pathology. Diffraction Enhanced x-ray Imaging (DEI) has the potential to dramatically change mammography and radiography in general. Specifically developed as part of an x-ray mammography program utilizing monochromatic x-rays from a synchrotron source, this technique has produced images of test objects and issue whose contrast and information content far exceeds conventional techniques. Preliminary work with human breast cancer specimens suggests that DEI images include information regarding specific physical characteristics of the lesion including border detail and associated features that are not detected by conventional imaging. The long term goal of this program is to develop a clinical based DEI system for mammography. The first phase of this program is to identify the optimal DEI parameters for improved visualization of lesions of the breast and to use these parameters to develop a conceptual design of a clinical DEI system. The synchrotron provides the ideal environment to perform these pilot studies since it provides a very intense, collimated, and tunable source of x-radiation. Specifically, a study of human breast tissue samples with cancer will be performed in which the DEI parameters will be systematically assessed regarding the visibility of structures suggestive of breast cancer-namely, spiculation architectural distortion, and calcification. This study will include the assessment of a wide variety of DEI parameters including imaging energy, refraction/scatter-rejection sensitivity, location on the "rocking curve," and x-ray optical geometry. The intent of this study is to optimize DEI for the clinical task. This will allow us to specify the x-ray source, x-ray optics, and detection method requirements for a clinical based system. As a result of this work the applicants propose to develop a conceptual design for a clinical system for mammography using DEI.