Rotary scanning equalization radiography: an efficient geometry for equalization mammography.

The detection of cancer in the radiographically dense breast is problematic, since the breast will produce a range of exposure that exceeds the useful dynamic range of high contrast film-screen combinations. It has been shown previously that mammographic scanning equalization radiography (MSER) can be used to overcome the latitude limitations of film-screen mammography. However, the tube loading of MSER is orders of magnitude greater than conventional mammography. A new rotary geometry for equalization radiography is proposed, in which the image receptor is exposed by repeated scans of a modulated slot beam, oriented at a variety of scanning angles with respect to the object. The superposition of the exposure from appropriately modulated, rotated slot beams produces an entrance exposure that will effectively equalize the film exposure. The principle advantages of this geometry is its simplicity and reduced tube loading. To determine the effectiveness and feasibility of RSER the effect of conventional, MSER, and RSER have been numerically simulated on the appearance of clinical mammograms, the relative heat loading, and the fraction of the breast imaged with high contrast are calculated. It is found that RSER produces images that are free of artefacts, and exhibit a similar degree of equalization, as found in MSER images. RSER accomplishes this with only four scanning angles, and a beam that is approximately 4 cm wide. The resulting tube loading is only three times greater than that found in conventional imaging. Numerical simulations indicate that RSER is a simple, feasible means of overcoming the latitude limitations of film-screen mammography.