Characterization of breast tissues in density and effective atomic number basis via spectral X-ray computed tomography

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that spectral X-ray CT can differentiate breast tissues more effectively by quantifying tissue density and atomic number, aiding in improved tissue characterization and diagnosis.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel spectral CT algorithm for simultaneous extraction of tissue density and atomic number, enhancing breast tissue differentiation in imaging.

Findings

Spectral CT can distinguish tissue types based on combined density and atomic number.

Adipose, fibro-glandular, and tumorous tissues show distinct average atomic numbers and densities.

Quantitative tissue parameters improve tissue differentiation in breast imaging.

Abstract

Differentiation of breast tissues is challenging in X-ray imaging because tissues might share similar or even the same linear attenuation coefficients $\mu$. Spectral computed tomography (CT) allows for more quantitative characterization in terms of tissue density and effective atomic number by exploiting the energy dependence of $\mu$. In this work, 5 mastectomy samples and a phantom with inserts mimicking breast soft tissues were evaluated in a retrospective study. The samples were imaged at three monochromatic energy levels in the range of 24 - 38 keV at 5 mGy per scan using a propagation-based phase-contrast setup at SYRMEP beamline at the Italian national synchrotron Elettra. A custom-made algorithm incorporating CT reconstructions of an arbitrary number of spectral energy channels was developed to extract the density and effective atomic number of adipose, fibro-glandular, pure glandular, tumor, and skin from regions selected by a radiologist. Preliminary results suggest that, via spectral CT, it is possible to enhance tissue differentiation. It was found that adipose, fibro-glandular and tumorous tissues have average effective atomic numbers (5.94 $\pm$ 0.09, 7.03 $\pm$ 0.012, and 7.40 $\pm$ 0.10) and densities (0.90 $\pm$ 0.02, 0.96 $\pm$ 0.02, and 1.07 $\pm$ 0.03 g/cm$^{3}$) and can be better distinguished if both quantitative values are observed together.