title: Technical Note: Robust measurement of the slice-sensitivity profile in breast tomosynthesis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this work is to improve the repeatability of the measurement of the slice-sensitivity profile (SSP) in reconstructed breast tomosynthesis volumes.
  
  
  METHODS
  A grid of aluminum ball-bearings (BBs) within a PMMA phantom was imaged on breast tomosynthesis systems from three different manufacturers. The full-width half-maximum (FWHM) values were measured for the SSPs of the BBs in the reconstructed volumes. The effect of transforming the volumes from a Cartesian coordinate system (CCS) to a cone-beam coordinate system (CBCS) on the variability in the FWHM values was assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Transforming the volumes from a CCS to a CBCS before measuring the SSPs reduced the coefficient of variation (COV) in the measurements of FWHM in repeated measurements by 56% and reduced the dependence of the FWHM values on the location of the BBs within the reconstructed volume by 76%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Measuring the SSP in the volumes in a CBCS improves the robustness of the measurement.
authors.affiliation: Physical Sciences Platform, Sunnybrook Research Institute, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M4N 3M5, Canada.
authors.forename: Aili K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Maki
authors.affiliation: Physical Sciences Platform, Sunnybrook Research Institute, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M4N 3M5, Canada.
authors.forename: James G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Mainprize
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medical Imaging and Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M4N 3M5, Canada and Physical Sciences Platform, Sunnybrook Research Institute, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M4N 3M5, Canada.
authors.forename: Martin J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Yaffe
mesh_terms: D001940:Breast / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D019904:Polymethyl Methacrylate; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio
chemical_list: D019904:Polymethyl Methacrylate