Mettivier G, Bliznakova K, Sechopoulos I, Boone J M, Di Lillo F, Sarno A, Castriconi R, Russo P
Dipartimento di Fisica 'Ettore Pancini', Università di Napoli Federico II, and INFN Sezione di Napoli, I-80126 Napoli, Italy.
Phys Med Biol. 2017 Jul 20;62(16):6446-6466. doi: 10.1088/1361-6560/aa6ca3.
The aim of this work was the evaluation of the software BreastSimulator, a breast x-ray imaging simulation software, as a tool for the creation of 3D uncompressed breast digital models and for the simulation and the optimization of computed tomography (CT) scanners dedicated to the breast. Eight 3D digital breast phantoms were created with glandular fractions in the range 10%-35%. The models are characterised by different sizes and modelled realistic anatomical features. X-ray CT projections were simulated for a dedicated cone-beam CT scanner and reconstructed with the FDK algorithm. X-ray projection images were simulated for 5 mono-energetic (27, 32, 35, 43 and 51 keV) and 3 poly-energetic x-ray spectra typically employed in current CT scanners dedicated to the breast (49, 60, or 80 kVp). Clinical CT images acquired from two different clinical breast CT scanners were used for comparison purposes. The quantitative evaluation included calculation of the power-law exponent, β, from simulated and real breast tomograms, based on the power spectrum fitted with a function of the spatial frequency, f, of the form S(f) = α/f . The breast models were validated by comparison against clinical breast CT and published data. We found that the calculated β coefficients were close to that of clinical CT data from a dedicated breast CT scanner and reported data in the literature. In evaluating the software package BreastSimulator to generate breast models suitable for use with breast CT imaging, we found that the breast phantoms produced with the software tool can reproduce the anatomical structure of real breasts, as evaluated by calculating the β exponent from the power spectral analysis of simulated images. As such, this research tool might contribute considerably to the further development, testing and optimisation of breast CT imaging techniques.
本研究旨在评估软件BreastSimulator，这是一款乳腺X线成像模拟软件，作为创建三维未压缩乳腺数字模型以及模拟和优化专用乳腺计算机断层扫描（CT）扫描仪的工具。创建了8个三维数字乳腺体模，其腺体比例在10% - 35%范围内。这些模型具有不同的尺寸，并模拟了逼真的解剖特征。针对专用锥束CT扫描仪模拟了X线CT投影，并使用FDK算法进行重建。针对当前专用乳腺CT扫描仪通常采用的5种单能（27、32、35、43和51 keV）和3种多能X线光谱（49、60或80 kVp）模拟了X线投影图像。使用从两台不同临床乳腺CT扫描仪获取的临床CT图像进行比较。定量评估包括基于空间频率f的函数形式S(f) = α/f拟合的功率谱，从模拟和真实乳腺断层图像计算幂律指数β。通过与临床乳腺CT和已发表数据进行比较来验证乳腺模型。我们发现计算得到的β系数与专用乳腺CT扫描仪的临床CT数据以及文献报道的数据相近。在评估软件包BreastSimulator以生成适用于乳腺CT成像的乳腺模型时，我们发现使用该软件工具生成的乳腺体模能够再现真实乳腺的解剖结构，这通过对模拟图像进行功率谱分析计算β指数来评估。因此，该研究工具可能会对乳腺CT成像技术的进一步发展、测试和优化做出重大贡献。
