title: Imaging performance of phase-contrast breast computed tomography with synchrotron radiation and a CdTe photon-counting detector.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Within the SYRMA-CT collaboration based at the ELETTRA synchrotron radiation (SR) facility the authors investigated the imaging performance of the phase-contrast computed tomography (CT) system dedicated to monochromatic in vivo 3D imaging of the female breast, for breast cancer diagnosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Test objects were imaged at 38keV using monochromatic SR and a high-resolution CdTe photon-counting detector. Signal and noise performance were evaluated using modulation transfer function (MTF) and noise power spectrum. The analysis was performed on the images obtained with the application of a phase retrieval algorithm as well as on those obtained without phase retrieval. The contrast to noise ratio (CNR) and the capability of detecting test microcalcification clusters and soft masses were investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For a voxel size of (60μm)(3), images without phase retrieval showed higher spatial resolution (6.7mm(-1) at 10% MTF) than corresponding images with phase retrieval (2.5mm(-1)). Phase retrieval produced a reduction of the noise level and an increase of the CNR by more than one order of magnitude, compared to raw phase-contrast images. Microcalcifications with a diameter down to 130μm could be detected in both types of images.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The investigation on test objects indicates that breast CT with a monochromatic SR source is technically feasible in terms of spatial resolution, image noise and contrast, for in vivo 3D imaging with a dose comparable to that of two-view mammography. Images obtained with the phase retrieval algorithm showed the best performance in the trade-off between spatial resolution and image noise.
authors.affiliation: Universita' di Napoli Federico II, Dipartimento di Fisica "Ettore Pancini", and INFN Sezione di Napoli, Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sarno
authors.affiliation: Universita' di Napoli Federico II, Dipartimento di Fisica "Ettore Pancini", and INFN Sezione di Napoli, Napoli, Italy. Electronic address: mettivier@na.infn.it.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mettivier
authors.affiliation: Universita' di Sassari, Sassari, Italy; INFN Sezione di Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Golosio
authors.affiliation: Universita' di Sassari, Sassari, Italy; INFN Sezione di Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Oliva
authors.affiliation: INFN Sezione di Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Spandre
authors.affiliation: Universita' di Napoli Federico II, Dipartimento di Fisica "Ettore Pancini", and INFN Sezione di Napoli, Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Di Lillo
authors.affiliation: Universita' di Trieste, Dipartimento di Fisica, and INFN Sezione di Trieste, Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fedon
authors.affiliation: Universita' di Trieste, Dipartimento di Fisica, and INFN Sezione di Trieste, Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Longo
authors.affiliation: Universita' di Napoli Federico II, Dipartimento di Fisica "Ettore Pancini", and INFN Sezione di Napoli, Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Russo
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001940:Breast / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D019187:Cadmium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000737:chemistry; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography / Q000379:methods*; D008858:Microscopy, Phase-Contrast; D017785:Photons; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio; D017356:Synchrotrons; D013691:Tellurium / Q000737:chemistry*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D019187:Cadmium Compounds; D003287:Contrast Media; D013691:Tellurium; C028337:cadmium telluride
keywords: Breast cancer; Computed tomography; Phase-contrast imaging; Photon-counting detector; Synchrotron radiation