Highlights
- •CMOS APS flat panel detector successfully used for detection of phase contrast effects.
- •Higher image contrast in synchrotron planar and TS images compared to conventional mammography and TS.
- •Detail visibility enhanced by the edge enhancement caused by the FSP phase contrast.
Abstract
The SYRMEP (SYnchrotron Radiation for MEdical Physics) beamline at Elettra is performing
the first mammography study on human patients using free-space propagation phase contrast
imaging. The stricter spatial resolution requirements of this method currently force
the use of conventional films or specialized computed radiography (CR) systems. This
also prevents the implementation of three-dimensional (3D) approaches. This paper
explores the use of an X-ray detector based on complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor
(CMOS) active pixel sensor (APS) technology as a possible alternative, for acquisitions
both in planar and tomosynthesis geometry.
Results indicate higher quality of the images acquired with the synchrotron set-up
in both geometries. This improvement can be partly ascribed to the use of parallel,
collimated and monochromatic synchrotron radiation (resulting in scatter rejection,
no penumbra-induced blurring and optimized X-ray energy), and partly to phase contrast
effects. Even though the pixel size of the used detector is still too large – and
thus suboptimal – for free-space propagation phase contrast imaging, a degree of phase-induced
edge enhancement can clearly be observed in the images.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 11, 2014
Accepted:
November 10,
2014
Received in revised form:
October 7,
2014
Received:
June 30,
2014
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
