Characterization of Breast Microcalcifications Using Dual-Energy CBCT: Impact of Detector Configuration on Imaging Performance—A Simulation Study

Microcalcifications (HAp, CaCO3, and CaC2O4) in breast tissue may indicate malignancy. Early-stage breast cancer diagnosis may benefit from the clinical application of dual-energy techniques. Dual-energy cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) could strongly contribute to an accurate diagnosis, especia...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 25; no. 22; p. 6853
Main Authors: Karali, Evangelia, Michail, Christos, Fountos, George, Kalyvas, Nektarios, Valais, Ioannis
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.11.2025
Subjects:
Algorithms
Breast - diagnostic imaging
Breast - pathology
Breast cancer
Breast Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging
Cadmium zinc telluride
Calcinosis - diagnostic imaging
CBCT
CNR
Comparative analysis
Computer Simulation
Cone-Beam Computed Tomography - methods
Crystals
CT imaging
Detectors
Diagnosis
Drug dosages
dual-energy CBCT
Energy
Equipment and supplies
Female
HAp
Humans
Light
Mammography
Medical imaging
Medical imaging equipment
microcalcifications
Monte Carlo simulation
Nuclear medicine
Optical detectors
Phantoms, Imaging
photon-counting detectors
Physiological aspects
Radiation
Semiconductors
Sensors
Signal processing
Tomography
Tumors
X-rays
United States
Connecticut
Greece
CNR
HAp
microcalcifications
GAGG
CZT
breast imaging
photon-counting detectors
dual-energy CBCT
CBCT
ISSN:1424-8220, 1424-8220
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Microcalcifications (HAp, CaCO3, and CaC2O4) in breast tissue may indicate malignancy. Early-stage breast cancer diagnosis may benefit from the clinical application of dual-energy techniques. Dual-energy cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) could strongly contribute to an accurate diagnosis, especially in dense breasts. This study focused on photon-counting detector alternatives to the standard cesium iodide (CsI) that CBCT currently relies on and investigated potential advantages over the employed CsI scintillators. Denser detector materials with a higher effective atomic number than CsI could improve image quality. A micro-CBCT was simulated in GATE using seven different detector configurations (CsI, bismuth germanate (BGO), lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO), lutetium–yttrium oxyorthosilicate (LYSO), gadolinium aluminum gallium garnet (GAGG), lanthanum bromide (LaBr3), and cadmium zinc telluride (CZT)) and four breast tissue phantoms containing microcalcifications of both type I and type II. The dual-energy methodology was applied to planar and tomographic acquisition data. Tomographic data were reconstructed using filtered backprojection (FBP) and the ordered-subsets expectation-maximization (OSEM) algorithm. Image quality was measured using contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) values. Both monoenergetic and polyenergetic models were considered. CZT and GAGG crystals presented higher CNR values than CsI. HAp microcalcifications exhibited the highest CNR values, which, when accompanied by OSEM, could be distinguished for classification. Detector configurations based on CZT or GAGG crystals could be adequate alternatives to CsI in dual-energy CBCT.
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ISSN:1424-8220
1424-8220
DOI:10.3390/s25226853