TY - JOUR
T1 - System geometry optimization for molecular breast tomosynthesis with focusing multi-pinhole collimators
AU - van Roosmalen, Jarno
AU - Beekman, Freek
AU - Goorden, Marlies
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Imaging of 99mTc-labelled tracers is gaining popularity for detecting breast tumours. Recently, we proposed a novel design for molecular breast tomosynthesis (MBT) based on two sliding focusing multi-pinhole collimators that scan a modestly compressed breast. Simulation studies indicate that MBT has the potential to improve the tumour-to-background contrast-to-noise ratio significantly over state-of-the-art planar molecular breast imaging. The aim of the present paper is to optimize the collimator-detector geometry of MBT. Using analytical models, we first optimized sensitivity at different fixed system resolutions (ranging from 5 to 12 mm) by tuning the pinhole diameters and the distance between breast and detector for a whole series of automatically generated multi-pinhole designs. We evaluated both MBT with a conventional continuous crystal detector with 3.2 mm intrinsic resolution and with a pixelated detector with 1.6 mm pixels. Subsequently, full system simulations of a breast phantom containing several lesions were performed for the optimized geometry at each system resolution for both types of detector. From these simulations, we found that tumour-to-background contrast-to-noise ratio was highest for systems in the 7 mm–10 mm system resolution range over which it hardly varied. No significant differences between the two detector types were found.
AB - Imaging of 99mTc-labelled tracers is gaining popularity for detecting breast tumours. Recently, we proposed a novel design for molecular breast tomosynthesis (MBT) based on two sliding focusing multi-pinhole collimators that scan a modestly compressed breast. Simulation studies indicate that MBT has the potential to improve the tumour-to-background contrast-to-noise ratio significantly over state-of-the-art planar molecular breast imaging. The aim of the present paper is to optimize the collimator-detector geometry of MBT. Using analytical models, we first optimized sensitivity at different fixed system resolutions (ranging from 5 to 12 mm) by tuning the pinhole diameters and the distance between breast and detector for a whole series of automatically generated multi-pinhole designs. We evaluated both MBT with a conventional continuous crystal detector with 3.2 mm intrinsic resolution and with a pixelated detector with 1.6 mm pixels. Subsequently, full system simulations of a breast phantom containing several lesions were performed for the optimized geometry at each system resolution for both types of detector. From these simulations, we found that tumour-to-background contrast-to-noise ratio was highest for systems in the 7 mm–10 mm system resolution range over which it hardly varied. No significant differences between the two detector types were found.
U2 - 10.1088/1361-6560/aa9265
DO - 10.1088/1361-6560/aa9265
M3 - Article
SN - 0031-9155
VL - 63
JO - Physics in Medicine and Biology
JF - Physics in Medicine and Biology
IS - 1
M1 - 015018
ER -