Abstract
Despite the benefits of mammography investigations, some studies have shown that X-ray exposure from the mammography screening itself can statistically cause breast cancer in a small fraction of women. Therefore, a dose reduction in mammography is desirable. At the same time, there is a demand for a higher spatial resolution in mammographic imaging. The most promising way to achieve these goals is the use of advanced photon-processing semiconductor X-ray detectors with optimum sensor materials. This study addresses the investigation of the optimum semiconductor sensor material for mammography in combination with the photon-processing detector Medipix3RX. The influence of K-shell fluorescence from the sensor material on the achievable contrast-to-noise ratio is investigated, as well as the attenuation efficiency. The three different sensor materials, CdTe, GaAs, and Si are studied, showing advances of CdTe-sensors for mammography. Furthermore, a comparison of the contrast-to-noise ratio between a clinical Se-detector and Medipix3RX detectors with Si- and CdTe-sensors is shown using a self-produced mammography phantom that is based on real human tissue.
Highlights
T HE benefits of mammography screening have been controversially discussed for years
The different sensor materials CdTe, GaAs and Si were bump bonded to the advanced photon counting Medipix3RX detector ASIC and compared, for the first time under identical conditions, for their practical suitability in mammography imaging by analysis of the contrast-tonoise ratio (CNR) and spatial resolution of mammography phantoms
The investigation of the optimum semiconductor sensor material for mammography showed that CdTe is giving the best performance regarding spatial resolution and contrast-tonoise ratio
Summary
T HE benefits of mammography screening have been controversially discussed for years. Date of publication June 24, 2020; date of current version November 30, 2020. Color versions of one or more of the figures in this article are available online at https://ieeexplore.ieee.org. Some studies estimate a lifetime attributable risk (LAR) of radiation-induced fatal breast cancer associated with annual digital screening or screen-film mammography of 20-25 cases per 100,000 in women aged 40-80 years [5]. By decreasing the dose in mammography, the number of examination-induced collateral effects could be significantly reduced. A further reduction of the mortality of women by the use of mammography could be achievable [7], [8]
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