A fast scatter field estimator for digital breast tomosynthesis

Oliver Díaz; David R. Dance; Kenneth C. Young; Premkumar Elangovan; Predrag R. Bakic; Kevin Wells

doi:10.1117/12.911494

2 March 2012 A fast scatter field estimator for digital breast tomosynthesis

Oliver Díaz, David R. Dance, Kenneth C. Young, Premkumar Elangovan, Predrag R. Bakic, Kevin Wells

Proceedings Volume 8313, Medical Imaging 2012: Physics of Medical Imaging; 831305 (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.911494
Event: SPIE Medical Imaging, 2012, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) is a promising alternative approach to overcome the limitations of tissue superposition found in full-field 2D digital mammography. However, due to the absence of anti-scatter grids in DBT, accurate scatter estimation for each projection is necessary for modelling the image reconstruction stage. In this work we identify the limitations associated with scatter estimation using spatial invariant scatter kernels, in particular at the edge region where such methods result in scatter overestimation. Such approaches show an overestimation of scatter-to-primary ratio of over 50% at the edges when compared with results from direct Monte Carlo simulation. This problem was found to increase with projection angle. Simulation work presented here shows that this overestimation in scatter is largely due to air gap between the lower curved breast edge and the detector. We propose a new fast, accurate scatter field estimator for use in DBT which not only considers the breast thickness and primary incidence angle, but also accounts for scatter exiting the breast edge region and traversing an air gap prior to absorption in the detector. The new proposed scatter estimator represents an alternative approach to this problem which reduces discrepancies at the edge of a breast phantom. Moreover, the time required for generating scatter has dropped from approximately 12 hours using Monte Carlo simulations for 1010 photons to just a few minutes per projection. The insertion of scatter from the compression paddle to aforementioned methodologies is also discussed.

Citation Download Citation

Oliver Díaz, David R. Dance, Kenneth C. Young, Premkumar Elangovan, Predrag R. Bakic, and Kevin Wells "A fast scatter field estimator for digital breast tomosynthesis", Proc. SPIE 8313, Medical Imaging 2012: Physics of Medical Imaging, 831305 (2 March 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.911494

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available