Dual-energy digital mammography for calcification imaging: improvement by post-image processing

S. Cheeenu Kappadath; Chris C. Shaw; Chao-Jen Lai; Xinming Liu; Gary J. Whitman M.D.; Wei T. Yang

doi:10.1117/12.596903

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20 April 2005 Dual-energy digital mammography for calcification imaging: improvement by post-image processing

S. Cheeenu Kappadath, Chris C. Shaw, Chao-Jen Lai, Xinming Liu, Gary J. Whitman M.D., Wei T. Yang

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Proceedings Volume 5745, Medical Imaging 2005: Physics of Medical Imaging; (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.596903
Event: Medical Imaging, 2005, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Overlapping fibroglandular tissue structures may obscure small calcifications, essential to the early detection of breast cancer. Dual-energy digital mammography (DEDM), where separate low- and high-energy images are acquired and synthesized to cancel the tissue structures, may improve the ability to detect and visualize calcifications amidst fibroglandular structures. We have developed and implemented a DEDM technique under full-field imaging conditions using a commercially available flat-panel based digital mammography system. We have developed techniques to suppress residual structures due to scatter contamination and non-uniformity in the x-ray field and detector response in our DEDM implementation. The total mean-glandular dose from the low- and high-energy images was constrained to be similar to screening examination levels. The low- and high-energy images were combined using a calibrated nonlinear (cubic) mapping function to generate the calcification images. To evaluate the dual-energy calcification images, we have designed a special phantom with calcium carbonate crystals to simulate calcifications of different sizes superimposed with a 5 cm thick breast-tissue-equivalent material with a continuously varying glandular-tissue ratio from 0.0 to 1.0. The suppression of tissue-structure background by dual-energy imaging comes with the cost of increased noise in the dual-energy images. We report on the effects of different image processing techniques on the dual-energy image signal and noise levels. The effects of image processing on the calcification contrast-to-noise ratios are also presented.

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S. Cheeenu Kappadath, Chris C. Shaw, Chao-Jen Lai, Xinming Liu, Gary J. Whitman M.D., and Wei T. Yang "Dual-energy digital mammography for calcification imaging: improvement by post-image processing", Proc. SPIE 5745, Medical Imaging 2005: Physics of Medical Imaging, (20 April 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.596903

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