Abstract
Purpose: Although the mortality rate of breast cancer was reduced with the introduction of screening mammography, many women undergo unnecessary subsequent examinations due to inconclusive diagnoses. Superposition of anatomical structures especially within dense breasts in conjunction with the inherently low soft tissue contrast of absorption images compromises image quality. This can be overcome by phase-contrast imaging.Approach: We analyze the spatial resolution of grating-based multimodal mammography using a mammographic phantom and one freshly dissected mastectomy specimen at an inverse Compton x-ray source. Here, the focus was on estimating the spatial resolution with the sample in the beam path and discussing benefits and drawbacks of the method used and the estimation of the mean glandular dose. Finally, the possibility of improving the spatial resolution is investigated by comparing monochromatic grating-based mammography with the standard one.Results: The spatial resolution is constant or also higher for the image acquired with monochromatic radiation and the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) is higher in our approach while the dose can be reduced by up to 20%.Conclusions: In summary, phase-contrast imaging helps to improve tumor detection by advanced diagnostic image quality. We demonstrate a higher spatial resolution for one mastectomy specimen and increased CNR at an equal or lower dose for the monochromatic measurements.
Highlights
According to the World Health Organization, cancer is the second leading cause of death globally with 9.0 million deaths of all noncommunicable diseases deaths, where breast cancer is the most common type of cancer under the age of 60 worldwide.[1,2] As a result of this, the reliable early detection of breast cancer is an important prerequisite for effective treatment
This study comprises the measurements of a mammographic phantom and one freshly dissected mastectomy specimen
The results of the analysis of the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) for the different test objects (Nylon fibrils, simulated microcalcifications, and tumor-like masses) and of the spatial resolution are listed in Tables 3 and 4, respectively
Summary
According to the World Health Organization, cancer is the second leading cause of death globally with 9.0 million deaths of all noncommunicable diseases deaths, where breast cancer is the most common type of cancer under the age of 60 worldwide.[1,2] As a result of this, the reliable early detection of breast cancer is an important prerequisite for effective treatment. Heck et al.: Dose and spatial resolution analysis of grating-based phase-contrast mammography Such as the specificity (between 78% and 95%) and the sensitivity (between 69% and 94%) reveal the need of improvement of this imaging technique.[6,7] One of the main issues that leads to low values in the above-mentioned criteria is the superposition of anatomical structures within the breast especially for women with dense breast tissue. In those cases and due to the low soft tissue contrast, palpable masses or other suspicious findings are not always detected in the standard mammography screening
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