European Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Mammography Screening

The study purpose was the comparison between doses delivered by a full-field digital mammography system and a screen/film mammography unit, both using the same type of X-ray tube. Exposure parameters and breast thickness were collected for 300 screen/film (GE Senographe DMR) and 296 digital mammograms (GE Senographe 2000D). The entrance surface air kerma (ESAK) was calculated from anode/filter combination, kVp and mAs values and breast thickness, by simulating spectra through a program based on a catalogue of experimental X-ray spectra. The average glandular dose (AGD) was also computed. Results showed an overall reduction of average glandular dose by 27% of digital over screen/film mammography. The dose saving was about 15% for thin and thick breasts, while it was between 30% and 40% for intermediate thicknesses. Full-field digital mammography dose reduction is allowed by wider dynamic range and higher efficiency of digital detector, which can be exposed at higher energy spectra than screen/film mammography, and by the separation between acquisition and displaying processes.

Dose comparison between screen/film and full-field digital mammography.

Objective: BreastCheck, the Irish Breast Screening Programme, has employed three different models of a full field digital mammography (FFDM) system since its transition to a digital service in 2007. The three models from GE Healthcare, Hologic and Sectra exhibit differences in their design and function, the most significant of which include anode target/filter choice, detector technology and the type of exposure automation. Methods: The aim of this study was to use the results from a clinical breast dose survey to examine the differences between three different FFDM models in terms of exposure selection, breast mean glandular dose (MGD) and automatic exposure control (AEC) dose contribution. Results: The accuracy of the dose estimation was improved by inclusion of the AEC pre-exposure dose contribution. The photon-counting system demonstrated the lowest average MGD. The GE Healthcare and Hologic flat-panel detector systems demonstrated a small but statistically significant dose difference. The pre-exposur...

Clinical dose performance of full field digital mammography in a breast screening programme

This paper presents detective quantum efficiency (DQE) data measured for a range of x-ray beam qualities for two full-field digital mammography (FFDM) systems: a caesium iodide (CsI) detector-based unit and a system designed around an amorphous selenium (a-Se) x-ray detector. Four beam qualities were studied for each system, covering mean energies from 17.8 keV to 23.4 keV for the CsI system and 17.8 keV to 24.7 keV for the a-Se unit. These were set using 2, 4, 6 and 7 cm polymethylmethacralate (PMMA) and typical tube voltage and target/filter combinations selected by the automatic exposure control (AEC) program used clinically on these systems. Normalized noise power spectra (NNPS) were calculated from flood images acquired at these beam qualities for a target detector air kerma of 100 microGy. Modulation transfer function (MTF) data were acquired at 28 kV and Mo/Mo target/filter setting. The DQE was then calculated from the MTF and NNPS results. For comparison, the quantum detective efficiency (QDE) and energy absorption efficiency (EAE) were calculated from tabulated narrow beam spectral data. With regard to detector response, some energy dependence was noted for pixel value plotted against air kerma at the detector. This amounted to a change in the gradient of the detector response of approximately 15% and 30% per keV for the CsI- and a-Se-based systems, respectively. For the DQE results, a reduction in DQE(0) of 22% was found for the CsI-based unit as beam quality changed from 25 kV Mo/Mo and 2 cm PMMA to 32 kV Rh/Rh and 7 cm PMMA. For the a-Se system, a change in beam quality from 25 kV Mo/Mo and 2 cm PMMA to 34 kV Mo/Rh and 7 cm PMMA led to a reduction in DQE(0) of 8%. Comparing measured data with simple calculations, a reduction in x-ray quantum detection efficiency of 27% was expected for the CsI-based system, while a reduction of 11% was predicted for the a-Se system.

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0031-9155/54/9/017/pdf

Detective quantum efficiency measured as a function of energy for two full-field digital mammography systems

This paper describes a method for automatic optimisation of parameters (AOP) in digital mammography systems. Using a model of the image chain, contrast to noise ratio (CNR) and average glandular dose (AGD) are computed for possible X-ray parameters and breast types. The optimisation process consists of the determination of the operating points providing the lowest possible AGD for each CNR level and breast type. The proposed metric for the dose used in the design of an AOP mode is the resulting dose to the population, computed by averaging the AGD values over the distribution of breast types in the population. This method has been applied to the automatic exposure control of new digital mammography equipment. Breast thickness and composition are estimated from a low dose pre-exposure and used to index tables containing sets of optimised operating points. The resulting average dose to the population ranges from a level comparable to state-of-the-art screen/film mammography to a reduction by a factor of two. Using this method, both CNR and dose are kept under control for all breast types, taking into consideration both individual and collective risk.

Dose to population as a metric in the design of optimised exposure control in digital mammography

A method for the determination of optimal operating points of digital mammography systems is described. The digital mammography equipment uses a flat panel detector and a bi-metal molybdenum/rhodium x-ray tube. An operating point is defined by the selection of the x-ray tube target material, x-ray filtration, kVp and detector entrance dose. Breast thickness and composition are estimated from a low dose pre-exposure, then used to index tables containing sets of operating points. The operating points are determined using a model of the image chain, which computes contrast to noise ratio (CNR) and average glandular dose (AGD) for all possible exposure conditions and breast thickness and composition combinations. The selected operating points are those which provide the required CNR for the lowest AGD. An AGD reduction of 30% to 50% can be achieved for comparable Image Quality, relative to current operating points. Resulting from the optimization process, the rhodium target is used in more than 75% of cases. Measurements of CNR and AGD have been performed on various tissue equivalent materials with good agreement between calculated and measured values. The proposed method provides full Image Quality benefit of digital mammography while minimizing dose to patients in a controlled and predictive way.

Philippe Blin

Papers

Optimized exposure control in digital mammography