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We propose a new mammography system using a cadmium telluride (CdTe) series photon-counting detector, having high absorption efficiency over a wide energy range. In a previous study, we showed that the use of high X-ray energy in digital mammography is useful from the viewpoint of exposure dose and image quality. In addition, the CdTe series detector can acquire X-ray spectrum information following transmission through a subject. This study focused on the tissue composition identified using spectral information obtained by a new photon-counting detector. Normal breast tissue consists entirely of adipose and glandular tissues. However, it is very difficult to find tumor tissue in the region of glandular tissue via a conventional mammogram, especially in dense breast because the attenuation coefficients of glandular tissue and tumor tissue are very close. As a fundamental examination, we considered a simulation phantom and showed the difference between normal breast tissue and tumor tissue of various thicknesses in a three-dimensional (3D) scatter plot. We were able to discriminate between both types of tissues. In addition, there was a tendency for the distribution to depend on the thickness of the tumor tissue. Thinner tumor tissues were shown to be closer in appearance to normal breast tissue. This study also demonstrated that the difference between these tissues could be made obvious by using a CdTe series detector. We believe that this differentiation is important, and therefore, expect this technology to be applied to new tumor detection systems in the future.
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