Phantom-Based Evaluation of Ultra-Fast Tomographic Molecular Breast Imaging Prototype
Abstract
A prototype of an ultra-fast and ultra-low-dose stationary tomographic Molecular Breast Imaging system (UFMBI) has been developed by Kromek. It leverages superior energy, position, and depth of interaction (DOI) resolution of CZT detectors, wide-range angular sampling of multi-pinhole (MPH) collimators with hundreds of pinholes, and novel demultiplexing image reconstruction, to mitigate the current MBI drawbacks ($\sim \mathbf{5}$ times higher than mammography patient dose and long imaging time of 40 min) without compromising diagnostic content. Building upon promising results of an initial feasibility study conducted by Kromek and University College London, a new dual-head prototype with field-of-view of $132 ~\text{mm} \times 88 ~\text{mm}$ has been designed and built. Each head consists of a $6 \times 4$ array of Kromek's 5 mm thick CZT detectors with $11 \times 11$ grid of 2 mm pixels. Raw detector data is analysed using a novel machine learning model which enables $5 \times 5$ sub-pixelisation of 2 mm pixels and DOI measurement using the anode pixel data only. The prototype was characterised using ${ }^{99 ~\mathrm{m}}$ Tc-filled phantoms with 5 to 9 mm spherical lesions and 60 mm thick uniform background phantoms. The initial results show a potential of dose/time reduction by a factor of 8 compared to current clinical practice, allowing a scan time of 10 - 12 min, while maintaining radiation dose $\leq 1 \text{mSv}$ and detecting $\geq 6 ~\text{mm}$ lesions. These…
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