Method for Simulating Dose Reduction in Digital Breast Tomosynthesis

Autor(es)

Borges, Lucas R. ^[1] ; Guerrero, Igor ^[1] ; Bakic, Predrag R. ^[2] ; Foi, Alessandro ^[3] ; Maidment, Andrew D. A. ^[2] ; Vieira, Marcelo A. C. ^[1]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, BR-13566590 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Univ Penn, Philadelphia, PA 19104 - USA

^[3] Tampere Univ Technol, Tampere 33720 - Finland

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MEDICAL IMAGING; v. 36, n. 11, p. 2331-2342, NOV 2017.
• Citações Web of Science: 7

Resumo

This paper proposes a new method of simulating dose reduction in digital breast tomosynthesis, starting from a clinical image acquired with a standard radiation dose. It considers both signal-dependent quantum and signal-independent electronic noise. Furthermore, the method accounts for pixel crosstalk, which causes the noise to be frequency-dependent, thus increasing the simulation accuracy. For an objective assessment, simulated and real images were compared in terms of noise standard deviation, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and normalized noise power spectrum (NNPS). A two-alternative forced-choice (2-AFC) study investigated the similarity between the noise strength of low-dose simulated and real images. Six experienced medical physics specialists participated on the study, with a total of 2 160 readings. Objective assessment showed no relevant trends with the simulated noise. The relative error in the standard deviation of the simulated noise was less than 2% for every projection angle. The relative error of the SNR was less than 1.5%, and the NNPS of the simulated images had errors less than 2.5%. The 2-AFC human observer experiment yielded no statistically significant difference (p=0.84) in the perceived noise strength between simulated and real images. Furthermore, the observer study also allowed the estimation of a dose difference at which the observer perceived a just-noticeable difference (JND) in noise levels. The estimated JND value indicated that a change of 17% in the current-time product was sufficient to cause a noticeable difference in noise levels. The observed high accuracy, along with the flexible calibration, make this method an attractive tool for clinical image-based simulations of dose reduction. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 16/25750-0 - Método para Simulação da Redução da Dose de Radiação em Imagens de Tomossíntese Digital da Mama
• Beneficiário: Marcelo Andrade da Costa Vieira
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular