Premium
TH‐C‐332‐07: Dual Energy Contrast‐Enhanced Breast Computed Tomography: A Phantom Study
Author(s) -
Le H,
Ducote JL,
Molloi S
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
medical physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.473
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 2473-4209
pISSN - 0094-2405
DOI - 10.1118/1.2962873
Subject(s) - imaging phantom , iodine , materials science , nuclear medicine , flat panel detector , filtration (mathematics) , tomography , mammography , detector , biomedical engineering , optics , radiology , medicine , breast cancer , physics , mathematics , statistics , cancer , metallurgy
Purpose: To investigate lesion enhancement with iodinated contrast material using dual energy breast computed tomography (CT). Method and Materials: The dual energy cone‐beam breast CT system consisted of a flat panel detector and an x‐ray tube installed on an optical bench. The x‐ray tube voltage and x‐ray beam filtration were switched at 30 Hz between 50 kVp (2.0‐mm Al filter) and 120 kVp (2.0‐mm Al + 0.8‐mm Ag filtration). A cylindrical breast phantom was constructed from polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and filled with oil and shredded PMMA. Five known concentrations of iodine (0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8 mgI/ml) were embedded in the phantom. The images were reconstructed with a Feldkamp filtered‐back‐projection algorithm. Dual energy subtraction was used to eliminate the contrast of oil and PMMA to enhance iodine signals. Results: The low energy scan could not distinguish PMMA and iodine concentrations of 0.5 and 1 mgI/ml. The high energy image could not distinguish PMMA and iodine concentration of 8 mgI/ml. After subtracting the PMMA, all five concentrations of iodine could be clearly visualized on the dual energy CT image. The dual energy iodine signal (CT DE ) and the iodine concentration (CI) were related by CT DE= 70C I+ 423 (R = 0.998 and SEE=15.26) Conclusion: Dual energy contrast‐enhanced breast CT can potentially improve lesion.