title: Towards breast tomography with synchrotron radiation at Elettra: first images.
abstract: The aim of the SYRMA-CT collaboration is to set-up the first clinical trial of phase-contrast breast CT with synchrotron radiation (SR). In order to combine high image quality and low delivered dose a number of innovative elements are merged: a CdTe single photon counting detector, state-of-the-art CT reconstruction and phase retrieval algorithms. To facilitate an accurate exam optimization, a Monte Carlo model was developed for dose calculation using GEANT4. In this study, high isotropic spatial resolution (120 μm)(3) CT scans of objects with dimensions and attenuation similar to a human breast were acquired, delivering mean glandular doses in the range of those delivered in clinical breast CT (5-25 mGy). Due to the spatial coherence of the SR beam and the long distance between sample and detector, the images contain, not only absorption, but also phase information from the samples. The application of a phase-retrieval procedure increases the contrast-to-noise ratio of the tomographic images, while the contrast remains almost constant. After applying the simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique to low-dose phase-retrieved data sets (about 5 mGy) with a reduced number of projections, the spatial resolution was found to be equal to filtered back projection utilizing a four fold higher dose, while the contrast-to-noise ratio was reduced by 30%. These first results indicate the feasibility of clinical breast CT with SR.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy. INFN Sezione di Trieste, Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Longo
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Arfelli
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bellazzini
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bottigli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brez
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Brun
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brunetti
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Delogu
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Di Lillo
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dreossi
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Fanti
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fedon
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Golosio
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lanconelli
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mettivier
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Minuti
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Oliva
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pinchera
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rigon
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Russo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sarno
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Spandre
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tromba
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zanconati
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D017356:Synchrotrons; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods