Digital breast tomosynthesis: Image quality and dose saving of the synthesized image

Abstract

In this paper, the impact on image quality and dose reduction related to the use of a synthesized 2D image in digital breast tomosynthesis examinations is analyzed. 2D and 3D images of the TORMAM phantom were acquired at clinical conditions. Syntesized 2D images (C-View) were also obtained. Seven observers scored the detectability and visibility of microcalcification (MC) clusters in both types of images. Low contrast objects were studied measuring contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and applying a non-prewhitening matched filter (NPW) model observer. Glandular doses were estimated from a sample of 50 patients. The detectability and visibility of the microcalcification clusters were higher in C-View than in 2D images (50% and 100%, respectively). CNR values were higher for C-View for all contrasts. The NPW got slightly higher detectability values for the lowest contrast details in C-View. We have estimated a dose reduction of 43% by replacing the conventional 2D by the C-View image. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.