Synchrotron radiation mammography: Clinical experimentation

For several years a large variety of in-vitro medical imaging studies were carried out at the SYRMEP (Synchrotron Radiation for Medical Physics) beamline of the synchrotron radiation facility ELETTRA (Trieste, Italy) utilizing phase sensitive imaging techniques. In particular low dose Phase Contrast (PhC) in planar imaging mode and computed tomography were utilized for full field mammography. The results obtained on in-vitro samples at the SYRMEP beamline in PhC breast imaging were so encouraging that a clinical program on a limited number of patients selected by radiologists was launched to validate the improvements of synchrotron radiation in mammography. PhC mammography with conventional screen-film systems is the first step within this project. A digital system is under development for future applications. During the last years the entire beamline has been deeply modified and a medical facility dedicated to in-vivo mammography was constructed. The facility for PhC synchrotron radiation mammography is now operative in patient mode. The system reveals a prominent increase in image quality with respect to conventional mammograms even at lower delivered dose.