Propagation-Based Phase-Contrast CT of the Breast Demonstrates Higher Quality Than Conventional Absorption-Based CT Even at Lower Radiation Dose

Title
Propagation-Based Phase-Contrast CT of the Breast Demonstrates Higher Quality Than Conventional Absorption-Based CT Even at Lower Radiation Dose
Publication Date
2021-01-01
Author(s)
Tavakoli Taba, Seyedamir
Arhatari, Benedicta D
Nesterets, Yakov I
Gadomkar, Ziba
Mayo, Sheridan C
Thompson, Darren
Fox, Jane
Kumar, Beena
Prodanovic, Zdenka
Hausermann, Daniel
Maksimenko, Anton
Hall, Christopher
Dimmock, Matthew
Pavlov, Konstantin M
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1756-4406
Email: kpavlov@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:kpavlov
Lockie, Darren
Gity, Masoumeh
Peele, Andrew
Quiney, Harry M
Lewis, Sarah
Gureyev, Timur E
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1103-0649
Email: tgureyev@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:tgureyev
Brennan, Patrick C
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Place of publication
Netherlands
DOI
10.1016/j.acra.2020.01.009
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/29453
Abstract
Rationale and Objectives: Propagation-based phase-contrast CT (PB-CT) is an advanced X-ray imaging technology that exploits both refraction and absorption of the transmitted X-ray beam. This study was aimed at optimizing the experimental conditions of PB-CT for breast cancer imaging and examined its performance relative to conventional absorption-based CT (AB-CT) in terms of image quality and radiation dose.
Materials and Methods: Surgically excised breast mastectomy specimens (n = 12) were scanned using both PB-CT and AB-CT techniques under varying imaging conditions. To evaluate the radiological image quality, visual grading characteristics (VGC) analysis was used in which 11 breast specialist radiologists compared the overall image quality of PB-CT images with respect to the corresponding AB-CT images. The area under the VGC curve was calculated to measure the differences between PB-CT and AB-CT images.
Results: The highest radiological quality was obtained for PB-CT images using a 32 keV energy X-ray beam and by applying the Homogeneous Transport of Intensity Equation phase retrieval with the value of its parameter γ set to one-half of the theoretically optimal value for the given materials. Using these optimized conditions, the image quality of PB-CT images obtained at 4 mGy and 2 mGy mean glandular dose was significantly higher than AB-CT images at 4 mGy (AUC VGC = 0.901, p = 0.001 and AUC VGC = 0.819, p = 0.011, respectively).
Conclusion: PB-CT achieves a higher radiological image quality compared to AB-CT even at a considerably lower mean glandular dose. Successful translation of the PB-CT technique for breast cancer imaging can potentially result in improved breast cancer diagnosis.
Link
Citation
Academic Radiology, 28(1), p. e20-e26
ISSN
1878-4046
1076-6332
Pubmed ID
32035759
Start page
e20
End page
e26

Files:

NameSizeformatDescriptionLink