A dual‐energy subtraction technique for microcalcification imaging in digital mammography—A signal‐to‐noise analysis

摘要: Breast cancer may manifest as microcalcifications (microCs) in x-ray mammography. However, the detection and visualization of microCs are often obscured by overlapping tissue structures. The dual-energy subtraction imaging technique offers an alternative approach for visualizing microCs. With this technique, separate high- low-energy images acquired their differences used to "cancel" out background process could increase statistical noise level relative calcification contrast. Therefore, a key issue with is weigh benefit removing cluttered structure over drawback reduced signal-to-noise ratio subtracted microC images. In report, theoretical framework calculating (quantum) developed numerical computations described. We estimate levels signals under various conditions, including spectra, size, composition, breast thickness. selection parameters optimized evaluate feasibility using improved present results discuss its dependence on parameters.