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Technical Note: Robust measurement of the slice‐sensitivity profile in breast tomosynthesis
Author(s) -
Maki Aili K.,
Mainprize James G.,
Yaffe Martin J.
Publication year - 2016
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 - 10.1118/1.4959539
Subject(s) - tomosynthesis , full width at half maximum , repeatability , imaging phantom , cartesian coordinate system , mammography , nuclear medicine , robustness (evolution) , optics , materials science , mathematics , physics , breast cancer , medicine , statistics , geometry , biochemistry , chemistry , cancer , gene
Purpose: The purpose of this work is to improve the repeatability of the measurement of the slice‐sensitivity profile (SSP) in reconstructed breast tomosynthesis volumes. Methods: A grid of aluminum ball‐bearings (BBs) within a PMMA phantom was imaged on breast tomosynthesis systems from three different manufacturers. The full‐width half‐maximum (FWHM) values were measured for the SSPs of the BBs in the reconstructed volumes. The effect of transforming the volumes from a Cartesian coordinate system (CCS) to a cone‐beam coordinate system (CBCS) on the variability in the FWHM values was assessed. Results: Transforming the volumes from a CCS to a CBCS before measuring the SSPs reduced the coefficient of variation (COV) in the measurements of FWHM in repeated measurements by 56% and reduced the dependence of the FWHM values on the location of the BBs within the reconstructed volume by 76%. Conclusions: Measuring the SSP in the volumes in a CBCS improves the robustness of the measurement.