Paper
5 June 2003 Optimal radiographic techniques for digital mammograms obtained with an amorphous selenium detector
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
Traditional film/screen mammograms are obtained using Molybdenum or Rhodium target x-ray tubes. The energy spectrum from these sources matches the limited latitude of film/screen systems. For digital imaging systems, the latitude is linear over a wide range of exposures and arbitrary H&D curves can be obtained with image processing. This allows the recorded contrast to noise ratio (CNR) to be optimized by considering a wide range of radiographic techniques. For this work, we modeled the radiographic process for a digital (amorphous selenium) mammography system. The optimal CNR relative to dose was determined for several target/filter combinations, for a wide range of kVp values, and for varying breast thickness. The target/filter combinations included: Mo/Mo, Mo/Rh, Rh/Rh, W/Al, W/Mo, W/Ag, and W/Sn. As breast thickness increased, the use of a tungsten target with a tin filter resulted in a 34% improvement in CNR for the same dose to the breast when compared to the use of a Molybdenum target with a Molybdenum filter. Notably, the W/Sn target/filter combination resulted in a significantly lower mA-s for the same breast dose (2/3 to 1/5 lower for a breast thickness from 4 to 8cm). In mammography applications, use of a Tungsten tube rather than the traditional Molybdenum tube should lead to significant reductions in exposure time and tube heat while maintaining similar image quality and dose.
© (2003) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Michael J. Flynn, Charles Dodge, Donald J. Peck, and Ann Swinford "Optimal radiographic techniques for digital mammograms obtained with an amorphous selenium detector", Proc. SPIE 5030, Medical Imaging 2003: Physics of Medical Imaging, (5 June 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.480486
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CITATIONS
Cited by 25 scholarly publications and 4 patents.
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KEYWORDS
Breast

Sensors

X-rays

Molybdenum

Signal detection

Mammography

Tungsten

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