X-ray diffraction setup for breast tissue characterization: Experimental validation on beef phantoms

摘要

Mammography, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging are commonly used to diagnose breast cancer. However these imaging techniques produce a significant number of false positive results and lead to unnecessary biopsies. According to the American Cancer Society, more than 50% of breast biopsies turn out negative. Complementary non invasive diagnostic techniques, such as X-ray Diffraction (XRD), are explored to reduce this number. In this paper we describe a novel XRD collimation design dedicated to depth-resolved tissue characterization. Experimental results obtained with phantoms composed of beef adipose and muscle tissues are presented.