Breast density quantification in dual-energy mammography using virtual anthropomorphic phantoms.
J Appl Clin Med Phys
; 25(5): e14360, 2024 May.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38648734
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
Breast density is a significant risk factor for breast cancer and can impact the sensitivity of screening mammography. Area-based breast density measurements may not provide an accurate representation of the tissue distribution, therefore volumetric breast density (VBD) measurements are preferred. Dual-energy mammography enables volumetric measurements without additional assumptions about breast shape. In this work we evaluated the performance of a dual-energy decomposition technique for determining VBD by applying it to virtual anthropomorphic phantoms.METHODS:
The dual-energy decomposition formalism was used to quantify VBD on simulated dual-energy images of anthropomorphic virtual phantoms with known tissue distributions. We simulated 150 phantoms with volumes ranging from 50 to 709 mL and VBD ranging from 15% to 60%. Using these results, we validated a correction for the presence of skin and assessed the method's intrinsic bias and variability. As a proof of concept, the method was applied to 14 sets of clinical dual-energy images, and the resulting breast densities were compared to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements.RESULTS:
Virtual phantom VBD measurements exhibited a strong correlation (Pearson's r > 0.95 $r > 0.95$ ) with nominal values. The proposed skin correction eliminated the variability due to breast size and reduced the bias in VBD to a constant value of -2%. Disagreement between clinical VBD measurements using MRI and dual-energy mammography was under 10%, and the difference in the distributions was statistically non-significant. VBD measurements in both modalities had a moderate correlation (Spearman's ρ $\rho \ $ = 0.68).CONCLUSIONS:
Our results in virtual phantoms indicate that the material decomposition method can produce accurate VBD measurements if the presence of a third material (skin) is considered. The results from our proof of concept showed agreement between MRI and dual-energy mammography VBD. Assessment of VBD using dual-energy images could provide complementary information in dual-energy mammography and tomosynthesis examinations.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Neoplasias da Mama
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Mamografia
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Imagem Radiográfica a Partir de Emissão de Duplo Fóton
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Imagens de Fantasmas
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Densidade da Mama
Limite:
Female
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Humans
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article