Measurement of breast-tissue x-ray attenuation by spectral imaging: fresh and fixed normal and malignant tissue.

Measurement of breast-tissue x-ray attenuation by spectral imaging: fresh and fixed normal and malignant tissue. Phys Med Biol. 2018 Nov 22;63(23):235003 Authors: Fredenberg E, Willsher P, Moa E, Dance DR, Young KC, Wallis MG Abstract Knowledge of x-ray attenuation is essential for developing and evaluating x-ray imaging technologies. In mammography, measurement of breast density, dose estimation, and differentiation between cysts and solid tumours are example applications requiring accurate data on tissue attenuation. Published attenuation data are, however, sparse and cover a relatively wide range. To supplement available data we have previously measured the attenuation of cyst fluid and solid lesions using photon-counting spectral mammography. The present study aims to measure the attenuation of normal adipose and glandular tissue, and to measure the effect of formalin fixation, a major uncertainty in published data. A total of 27 tumour specimens, seven fibro-glandular tissue specimens, and 15 adipose tissue specimens were included. Spectral (energy-resolved) images of the samples were acquired and the image signal was mapped to equivalent thicknesses of two known reference materials, from which x-ray attenuation as a function of energy can be derived. The spread in attenuation between samples was relatively large, partly because of natural variation. The variation of malignant and glandular tissue was similar, whereas that of ad...
Source: Physics in Medicine and Biology - Category: Physics Authors: Tags: Phys Med Biol Source Type: research