A quantitative characterization of the soft tissues composing the human breast is achieved by means of a monochromatic CT phase-contrast imaging system, through accurate measurements of their attenuation coefficients within the energy range of interest for breast CT clinical examinations. Quantitative measurements of linear attenuation coefficients are performed on tomographic reconstructions of surgical samples, using monochromatic X-ray beams from a synchrotron source and a free space propagation setup. An online calibration is performed on the obtained reconstructions, in order to reassess the validity of the standard calibration procedure of the CT scanner. Three types of healthy tissues (adipose, glandular, and skin) and malignant tumors, when present, are considered from each sample. The measured attenuation coefficients are in very good agreement with the outcomes of similar studies available in the literature, although they span an energy range that was mostly neglected in the previous studies. No globally significant differences are observed between healthy and malignant dense tissues, although the number of considered samples does not appear sufficient to address the issue of a quantitative differentiation of tumors. The study assesses the viability of the proposed methodology for the measurement of linear attenuation coefficients, and provides a denser sampling of attenuation data in the energy range useful to breast CT.

Quantitative characterization of breast tissues with dedicated CT imaging

Arfelli, Fulvia;Bonazza, Deborah;Brombal, Luca;Cova, Maria Assunta;Di Trapani, Vittorio;Donato, Sandro;Rigon, Luigi;Taibi, Angelo;Zanconati, Fabrizio;Longo, Renata
2019-01-01

Abstract

A quantitative characterization of the soft tissues composing the human breast is achieved by means of a monochromatic CT phase-contrast imaging system, through accurate measurements of their attenuation coefficients within the energy range of interest for breast CT clinical examinations. Quantitative measurements of linear attenuation coefficients are performed on tomographic reconstructions of surgical samples, using monochromatic X-ray beams from a synchrotron source and a free space propagation setup. An online calibration is performed on the obtained reconstructions, in order to reassess the validity of the standard calibration procedure of the CT scanner. Three types of healthy tissues (adipose, glandular, and skin) and malignant tumors, when present, are considered from each sample. The measured attenuation coefficients are in very good agreement with the outcomes of similar studies available in the literature, although they span an energy range that was mostly neglected in the previous studies. No globally significant differences are observed between healthy and malignant dense tissues, although the number of considered samples does not appear sufficient to address the issue of a quantitative differentiation of tumors. The study assesses the viability of the proposed methodology for the measurement of linear attenuation coefficients, and provides a denser sampling of attenuation data in the energy range useful to breast CT.
2019
Pubblicato
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6560/ab2c29
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Piai+et+al_2019_Phys._Med._Biol._10.1088_1361-6560_ab2c29.pdf

Open Access dal 25/06/2020

Tipologia: Documento in Pre-print
Licenza: Creative commons
Dimensione 2.34 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
2.34 MB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri
Piai_2019_Phys._Med._Biol._64_155011.pdf

Accesso chiuso

Descrizione: Articolo principale
Tipologia: Documento in Versione Editoriale
Licenza: Copyright Editore
Dimensione 1.91 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
1.91 MB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia
Pubblicazioni consigliate

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11368/2946098
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 7
  • Scopus 27
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 26
social impact