Modeling, validation and application of a mathematical tissue-equivalent breast phantom for linear slot-scanning digital mammography

Phys Med Biol. 2009 Mar 21;54(6):1533-53. doi: 10.1088/0031-9155/54/6/009. Epub 2009 Feb 19.

Abstract

This paper presents a mathematical tissue-equivalent breast phantom for linear slot-scanning digital mammography. A recently developed prototype linear slot-scanning digital mammography system was used for model validation; image quality metrics such as image contrast and contrast-to-noise ratio were calculated. The results were in good agreement with values measured using a physical breast-equivalent phantom designed for mammography. The estimated pixel intensity of the mathematical phantom, the analogue-to-digital conversion gain and the detector additive noise showed good agreement with measured values with correlation of nearly 1. An application of the model, to examine the feasibility of using a monochromatic filter for dose reduction and improvement of image quality in slot-scanning digital mammography, is presented.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Validation Study

MeSH terms

  • Breast / cytology*
  • Feasibility Studies
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Mammography / instrumentation*
  • Models, Biological*
  • Phantoms, Imaging*
  • Radiation Dosage
  • Radiographic Image Enhancement / instrumentation*
  • Software