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Contrast Detail Phantom Comparison on a Commercially Available Unit. Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT) versus Full-Field Digital Mammography (FFDM)

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Abstract

The performance of a commercial digital mammographic system working in 2D planar versus tomosynthesis mode was evaluated in terms of the image signal difference to noise ratio (SDNR). A contrast detail phantom was obtained embedding 1 cm Plexiglas, including 49 holes of different diameter and depth, between two layers containing a breast-simulating material. The phantom was exposed with the details plane perpendicular to the X-ray beam using the manufacturer’s standard clinical breast acquisition parameters. SDNR in the digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) images was higher than that of the full-field digital mammography (FFDM) for 38 out of 49 details in complex background conditions. These differences (p < 0.05) are statistically significant for 19 details out of 38. The relative SDNR results for DBT and FFDM images showed a dependence on the diameter of the details considered. This paper proposes an initial framework for a global image quality evaluation for commercial systems that can operate with different image acquisition modality using the same detector.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Andy Smith, Dr. Ren Baorui, and Eng. Enrico Tedesco for the cooperation in the experiment and helpful scientific discussion. They also thank Mrs. Roseanne Smith for English revision.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Servizio di Fisica Medica Sanitaria, Azienda Ospedaliera S. Maria Nuova, Reggio Emilia, Italy

    Marco Bertolini, Andrea Nitrosi, Giovanni Borasi, Andrea Botti, Davide Tassoni & Roberto Sghedoni

  2. University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Giulio Zuccoli

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  1. Marco Bertolini
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  2. Andrea Nitrosi
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  3. Giovanni Borasi
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  4. Andrea Botti
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  7. Giulio Zuccoli
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Correspondence to Andrea Nitrosi.

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Bertolini, M., Nitrosi, A., Borasi, G. et al. Contrast Detail Phantom Comparison on a Commercially Available Unit. Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT) versus Full-Field Digital Mammography (FFDM). J Digit Imaging 24, 58–65 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10278-009-9270-0

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