Suitability of new anode materials in mammography: Dose and subject contrast considerations using Monte Carlo simulation

Abstract

Mammography is the technique with the highest sensitivity and specificity, for the early detection of nonpalpable lesions associated with breast cancer. As screening mammography refers to asymptomatic women, the task of optimization between the image quality and the radiation dose is critical. A way toward optimization could be the introduction of new anode materials. A method for producing the x-ray spectra of different anode/filter combinations is proposed. The performance of several mammographic spectra, produced by both existing and theoretical anode materials, is evaluated, with respect to their dose and subject contrast characteristics, using a Monte Carlo simulation. The mammographic performance is evaluated utilizing a properly designed mathematical phantom with embedded inhomogeneities, irradiated with different spectra, based on combinations of conventional and new (Ru, Ag) anode materials, with several filters (Mo, Rh, Ru, Ag, Nb, Al). An earlier developed and validated Monte Carlo model, for deriving both image and dose characteristics in mammography, was utilized and overall performance results were derived in terms of subject contrast to dose ratio and squared subject contrast to dose ratio. Results demonstrate that soft spectra, mainly produced from Mo, Rh, and Ru anodes and filtered with k-edge filters, provide increased subject contrast for inhomogeneities of both small size, simulating microcalcifications and low density, simulating masses. The harder spectra (W and Ag anode) come short in the discrimination task but demonstrate improved performance when considering the dose delivered to the breast tissue. As far as the overall performance is concerned, new theoretical spectra demonstrate a noticeable good performance that is similar, and in some cases better compared to commonly used systems, stressing the possibility of introducing new materials in mammographic practice as a possible contribution to its optimization task. In the overall optimization task in terms of subject contrast to dose ratio, tube voltage was found to have a minor effect, while with respect to the filter material, a lesion specific performance was noticed, with Al filtered spectra showing improved characteristics in case of the inhomogeneities simulating microcalcifications, while softer k-edge filtered spectra are more suitable for the discrimination of inhomogeneities simulating masses.