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Toward High-Contrast Breast CT at Low Radiation Dose¹

¹ From the Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Turku University Central Hospital, Savitehtaankatu 1, FIN-20521 Turku, Finland (J.K.); Inserm U836-6/UJF/CHU, Grenoble-Institute of Neuroscience, Grenoble, France (M.F.); Department of Pathology (M.L.K.), Helsinki Medical Imaging Center (P.V.), and Breast Surgery Unit (M.L., K.v.S.), Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland; Radiation Metrology Laboratory, Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Helsinki, Finland (P. Sipilä); European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hamburg, Germany (S.F.); Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland (H.S., P. Suortti); and Biomedical Beamline ID17, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble, France (A.B.). Received December 13, 2007; revision requested January 14, 2008; revision received February 18; accepted March 20; final version accepted April 3. Supported by the Academy of Finland (project nos. 43959 and 210160) and the European Community (grant contract HPRI-CT-1999-50008). Address correspondence to J.K. (e-mail: jani.keyrilainen{at}tyks.fi).

This study was approved by the local research ethics committee, and patient informed consent was obtained. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that high-spatial-resolution low-dose analyzer-based x-ray computed tomography (CT) can substantially improve the radiographic contrast of breast tissue in vitro when compared with that attained by using diagnostic mammography and CT. An excised human breast tumor was examined by using analyzer-based x-ray imaging with synchrotron radiation. The correspondence between analyzer-based x-ray images and diagnostic mammograms, CT images, and histopathologic findings was determined. Calcifications and fine details of soft tissue, which are at the contrast detection limit on diagnostic mammograms, are clearly visible on planar analyzer-based x-ray images. Analyzer-based x-ray CT yields high contrast from smoothly varying internal structures, such as tumorous mass lesions, corresponding to information on actual structures seen at histopathologic analysis. The mean glandular dose of 1.9 mGy in analyzer-based x-ray CT is approximately equivalent to the dose administered during single-view screening mammography. The improved visibility of mammographically indistinguishable lesions in vitro suggests that analyzer-based x-ray CT may be a valuable method in radiographic evaluation of the breast, thereby justifying further investigations.

© RSNA, 2008