Addressing the Challenges in Transitioning from Mammography to Breast Tomosynthe*

描述（由申请人提供）：此K25奖将用于成功过渡博士迷你达斯，谁是物理学家和光学工程师，应用她的技能，在乳腺成像临床相关的研究。她的长期目标是成为这一领域的独立研究人员，并制定一项研究计划，将创新物理学与对相关生物过程的透彻理解，最先进的成像技术和早期乳腺癌检测的真实的临床需求相结合。在本提案中，Das博士将解决从2D乳腺X射线摄影过渡到3D乳腺图像的一些现有挑战。数字化乳腺X线摄影（DM）显示出非常高的微钙化（MC）检出率，微钙化是浸润性导管癌（DCIS）的主要前兆。虽然数字乳腺断层合成摄影（DBT）是一种等待FDA批准的模式，但尚不清楚它是否已被证明足以取代DM。由于MC和肿块之间的衰减特性和尺寸/结构的差异，很难优化DBT系统，以便从同一重建图像中检测MC和肿块。鉴于这些各种挑战，本文提出的可变剂量DBT（VD-DBT）技术的评估具有重要意义。在此，能够同时取得相当于DM（主要用于MC检测）的中央投影切片和3D重建图像（主要用于肿块检测）。该方法还将为放射科医师提供平滑过渡，以尽可能低的总剂量同时获得乳房X线摄影图像和3D重建图像。我们建议的第二部分是研究具有可调先验的惩罚最大似然（PML）重建方法，该方法可以使低噪声图像具有改善的SNR和边缘保留效果，可以改善使用3D重建图像的肿块检测。考虑到在任何提议的乳腺筛查模式（如DBT）中需要减少总成像剂量，这也是非常重要的。

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.