Chen Zikuan, Ning Ruola
Department of Radiology, University of Rochester, Box 648, 601 Elmwood Avenue, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.
Phys Med Biol. 2003 Jul 21;48(14):2217-28. doi: 10.1088/0031-9155/48/14/312.
Although x-ray mammography is widely developed for breast tumour detection, it suffers from spatial superposition in its two-dimensional (2D) representation of a three-dimensional (3D) breast structure. Accordingly, 3D breast imaging, such as cone-beam computed tomography (CT), arises at the historic moment. In this paper, we theoretically elucidate the spatial superposition effect associated with x-ray mammography on breast tumour detection. This explanation is based on the line integral of x-ray traversing a composite breast model. As a result, we can characterize the difficulty of detecting small tumours in terms of local intensity contrast in x-ray images. In comparison, we also introduce cone-beam CT breast imaging for 3D breast volume representation, which offers advantages for breast mass segmentation and measurement. The discussion is demonstrated with an experiment with a breast surgical specimen. In conclusion, we strongly believe that 3D volumetric representation allows for more accurate breast tumour detection.
尽管X线乳腺摄影在乳腺肿瘤检测方面得到了广泛发展，但它在三维（3D）乳腺结构的二维（2D）表示中存在空间叠加问题。因此，三维乳腺成像，如锥束计算机断层扫描（CT）应运而生。在本文中，我们从理论上阐明了与X线乳腺摄影相关的空间叠加效应在乳腺肿瘤检测中的作用。这种解释基于X线穿过复合乳腺模型的线积分。结果，我们可以根据X线图像中的局部强度对比度来描述检测小肿瘤的难度。相比之下，我们还介绍了用于三维乳腺体积表示的锥束CT乳腺成像，它在乳腺肿块分割和测量方面具有优势。通过对乳腺手术标本的实验进行了论证。总之，我们坚信三维体积表示能够实现更准确的乳腺肿瘤检测。
