Quantitative characterization of breast tissues with dedicated CT imaging.

Quantitative characterization of breast tissues with dedicated CT imaging. Phys Med Biol. 2019 Jun 24;: Authors: Piai A, Contillo A, Arfelli F, Bonazza D, Brombal L, Cova MA, Delogu P, Di Trapani V, Donato S, Golosio B, Mettivier G, Oliva P, Rigon L, Taibi A, Tonutti M, Tromba G, Zanconati F, Longo R Abstract A quantitative characterization of the soft tissues composing the human breast is achieved by means of a monochromatic CT phase-contrast imaging system, through accurate measurements of their attenuation coefficients within the energy range of interest for breast CT clinical examinations. Quantitative measurements of linear attenuation coefficients are performed on tomographic reconstructions of surgical samples, using monochromatic X-ray beams from a synchrotron source and a free space propagation setup. An online calibration is performed on the obtained reconstructions, in order to reassess the validity of the standard calibration procedure of the CT scanner. Three types of healthy tissues (adipose, glandular, and skin) and malignant tumors, when present, are considered from each sample. The measured attenuation coefficients are in very good agreement with the outcomes of similar studies available in the literature, although they span an energy range that was mostly neglected in the previous studies. No globally significant differences are observed between healthy and malignant dense tissues, although the number of considered ...
Source: Physics in Medicine and Biology - Category: Physics Authors: Tags: Phys Med Biol Source Type: research