X-ray phase imaging has the potential to dramatically improve soft tissue contrast sensitivity, which is a crucial requirement in many diagnostic applications such as breast imaging. In this context, a program devoted to perform in-vivo phase-contrast synchrotron radiation breast computed tomography is ongoing at the Elettra facility (Trieste, Italy). The used phase-contrast technique is the propagation-based configuration, which requires a spatially coherent source and a sufficient object-to-detector distance. In this work the effect of this distance on image quality is quantitatively investigated scanning a large breast surgical specimen at 3 object-to-detector distances (1.6, 3, 9 m) and comparing the images both before and after applying the phase-retrieval procedure. The sample is imaged at 30 keV with a 60 µm pixel pitch CdTe single-photon-counting detector, positioned at a fixed distance of 31.6~m from the source. The detector fluence is kept constant for all acquisitions. The study shows that, at the largest distance, a 20-fold SNR increase can be obtained by applying the phase-retrieval procedure. Moreover, it is shown that, for phase-retrieved images, changing the object-to-detector distance does not affect spatial resolution while boosting SNR (4-fold increase going from the shortest to the largest distance). The experimental results are supported by a theoretical model proposed by other authors, whose salient results are presented in this paper.
Brombal, L., Donato, S., Dreossi, D., Arfelli, F., Bonazza, D., Contillo, A., et al. (2018). Phase-contrast breast CT: the effect of propagation distance. PHYSICS IN MEDICINE & BIOLOGY, 63(24) [10.1088/1361-6560/aaf2e1].
Phase-contrast breast CT: the effect of propagation distance
Delogu, Pasquale;Di Trapani, Vittorio;
2018-01-01
Abstract
X-ray phase imaging has the potential to dramatically improve soft tissue contrast sensitivity, which is a crucial requirement in many diagnostic applications such as breast imaging. In this context, a program devoted to perform in-vivo phase-contrast synchrotron radiation breast computed tomography is ongoing at the Elettra facility (Trieste, Italy). The used phase-contrast technique is the propagation-based configuration, which requires a spatially coherent source and a sufficient object-to-detector distance. In this work the effect of this distance on image quality is quantitatively investigated scanning a large breast surgical specimen at 3 object-to-detector distances (1.6, 3, 9 m) and comparing the images both before and after applying the phase-retrieval procedure. The sample is imaged at 30 keV with a 60 µm pixel pitch CdTe single-photon-counting detector, positioned at a fixed distance of 31.6~m from the source. The detector fluence is kept constant for all acquisitions. The study shows that, at the largest distance, a 20-fold SNR increase can be obtained by applying the phase-retrieval procedure. Moreover, it is shown that, for phase-retrieved images, changing the object-to-detector distance does not affect spatial resolution while boosting SNR (4-fold increase going from the shortest to the largest distance). The experimental results are supported by a theoretical model proposed by other authors, whose salient results are presented in this paper.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/11365/1064719