Advances in Digital Mammography: Image Processing, Digital Subtraction, and Dual-Energy Techniques

摘要

Digital mammography was developed as a means to obtain more precise x-ray transmission information for the breast than was possible with screen-film technology (1). This has been accomplished by using detectors with wider dynamic range than that provided by film, by eliminating film granularity noise, and by providing a display system that is independent from image acquisition and in which image brightness and contrast are freely adjustable by the viewer. For the advantages of improved image acquisition to be realized fully, the information must be processed to correct for fixed pattern nonuniformities and other imperfections in the acquisition system and to suit the capabilities of the display system. Beyond the improvements in performance that might be expected from this optimization, the quantitative data provided by the digital mammography system may also be used in new ways, through novel applications that can extend the usefulness of this modality for detecting and characterizing lesions. In this chapter, we will discuss some of the image processing procedures that are applied to digital mammography data and describe one new application, iodine-enhanced subtraction digital mammography. Other chapters of this syllabus will cover additional applications that can be built on the platform of digital mammography, such as tomosynthesis and computer-aided detection.