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TU‐A‐301‐04: Breast Composition Measurement with a Cadmium‐Zinc‐Telluride (CZT) Based Spectral Computed Tomography System
Author(s) -
Ding H,
Ducote J,
Molloi S
Publication year - 2011
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 - 10.1118/1.3613094
Subject(s) - cadmium zinc telluride , imaging phantom , materials science , detector , photon counting , optics , tomography , biomedical engineering , nuclear medicine , physics , medicine
Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of breast tissue composition in terms of water, lipid and protein with a Cadmium‐Zinc‐Telluride (CZT) based computed tomography system, as that information may help to better characterize suspicious lesions. Methods: Simulations and experimental studies were performed with a spectral CT system equipped with a CZT‐ based photon counting detector with energy resolution. Simulations of the figure‐of‐merit (FOM), which represents the signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) of the dual energy image with respect to mean glandular dose, were performed to find the optimal configuration of experimental acquisition parameters. A calibration phantom of 3.175 cm in diameter was constructed from a polyoxymethylene plastic with cylindrical holes and filled with water and oil. Similar size samples of pure adipose and lean bovine tissue were used for the three‐material decomposition. Tissue composition results computed from the images were compared to data from chemical analysis of prior tissue samples. Results: The beam energy was selected to be 100 kVp with a threshold energy of 40 keV. The tissue samples were successfully decomposed into water, lipid and protein contents. The RMS percentage errors of the mass density for the three‐material decomposition, as compared to data from chemical analysis, were estimated to be approximately 6.92%. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the CZT‐based photon counting detector may be employed in the CT system to quantify the water, lipid, and protein mass densities in tissue with relatively good agreement.