Indicator and calibration material for microcalcifications in dual-energy mammography

Abstract

Dual-energy mammography can suppress the contrast between adipose and glandular tissues and improve the detectability of microcalcifications (MCs). In the published papers, MCs were calibrated by aluminum and identified by their thickness. However, the variety of compositions of MCs causes the variety of attenuation differences between MCs and MC calibration material which bring about huge calculation errors. In our study, we selected calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate as the most suitable MC calibration materials and the correction coefficient was reasonably determined. Area density was used as MC indicator instead of thickness. Therefore, the calculation errors from MC calibration materials can be reduced a lot and the determination of MCs will become possible. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.