A straightforward method for assessing the technical image quality of reconstructed and synthetic 2D images for Digital breast tomosynthesis systems. in Physica medica : PM : an international journal devoted to the applications of physics to medicine and biology : official journal of the Italian Association of Biomedical Physics (AIFB) / Phys Med. 2025 Feb;130:104907. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmp.2025.104907. Epub 2025 Jan 21.

2025
AO Cuneo
ASL Cuneo 1

Tipo pubblicazione

Journal Article

Autori/Collaboratori (45)Vedi tutti...

Pagan L
Medical Physics Unit, Azienda USL Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Origgi D
Medical Physics Unit, Medical Physics Unit, IEO, European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milano, Italy.
Maldera A
Medical Physics Unit, P.O. Dimiccoli - ASL BT, Barletta, Italy.

et alii...

Abstract

PURPOSE: Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT) is an advanced mammography technique for which there are currently no internationally agreed methods and reference values for image quality assessment. The aim of this multicentre study was to evaluate a simple method to assess the technical image quality of reconstructed and synthetic 2D (SM) images of different models of DBT systems using commercially available phantoms. METHODS: The signal difference to noise ratio (SDNR) was chosen as an index of technical image quality and was evaluated for three commercial phantoms, Tomophan, Tormam and CIRS model 015, on 55 DBT systems (six vendors, nine models). RESULTS: SDNR was found to depend on several factors: detail size, average glandular dose (AGD), reconstruction algorithm, software version and applied post-processing. In particular, an increase in SDNR was observed with increasing detail size, AGD, as well as with the use of contrast-enhanced post-processing and iterative reconstruction algorithms. Most systems showed higher SDNR values in SM images respect to DBT for the largest details and a decrease for smaller details. CONCLUSIONS: This study proposes a straightforward method to assess the technical image quality of reconstructed DBT and SM images using three different commercial phantoms. The algorithms used to generate SM and DBT images might perform differently when applied to phantoms with homogeneous backgrounds compared to clinical breast structures. However this method could be used to establish reference values for technical image quality during quality control (QC) which could be used to monitor the consistency of the system's performance over time.

Accesso banca dati bibliografica

PMID : 39842324

DOI : 10.1016/j.ejmp.2025.104907

Keywords

Breast/diagnostic imaging; Algorithms; Humans; Quality Control; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted/methods; Signal-To-Noise Ratio; Phantoms, Imaging; Mammography/methods; Radiographic Image Enhancement/methods; Female; Digital Breast Tomosynthesis; Image quality; Mammography; Quality control;