SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DUAL ENERGY AND/OR CONTRAST ENHANCED BREAST IMAGING FOR SCREENING, DIAGNOSIS AND BIOPSY

• US 20120238870A1
• Filed: 03/08/2012
• Published: 09/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hologic Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Hologic Incorporated
• Inventors: Smith, Andrew P., Stein, Jay A., Jing, Zhenxue, Ren, Baorui, Ruth, Christopher, Shaw, Ian, Niklason, Loren
• Granted Patent: US 9,020,579 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/431
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 10/04 Endoscopic instruments
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/025 Tomosynthesis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/12 Arrangements for detecting or locating foreign bodies
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4035 the source being combined with a filter or grating
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4417 related to combined acquisition of different diagnostic modalities
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/463 characterised by displaying multiple images or images and diagnostic data on one display
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/466 adapted to display 3D data
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/481 involving the use of contrast agents
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/482 involving multiple energy imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/502 for diagnosis of breast, i.e. mammography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5235 combining images from the same or different ionising radiation imaging techniques, e.g. PET and CT
• CPC Class Codes: F04C 2270/041 Controlled or regulated

Abstract

Systems and methods for x-ray imaging a patient'"'"'s breast in combinations of dual-energy, single-energy, mammography and tomosynthesis modes that facilitate screening for and diagnosis of breast abnormalities, particularly breast abnormalities characterized by abnormal vascularity.

Claims

1. A method of multi-mode x-ray examination of a contrast-enhanced patient'"'"'s breast comprising:

introducing vascular contrast agent into a patient'"'"'s breast;

obtaining (i) a multiplicity of single-energy x-ray 2D tomosynthesis projection images of the patient'"'"'s breast, (ii) a low-energy x-ray 2D mammogram, and (ii) a high-energy x-ray 2D mammogram of the breast;

wherein said 2D tomosynthesis projection images and said 2D mammograms are taken in a single breast compression;

computer-processing the 2D tomosynthesis projection images into 3D slice images that represent respective slices of the breast;

computer-processing the 2D low-energy mammogram and the 2D high-energy mammogram to form a weighted combination 2D image highlighting vascularity in the breast; and

displaying the combination 2D image and one or more of the 3D slice images;

wherein the displayed combination 2D image facilitates identification of a position of a possible vascular abnormality in two dimensions, and the 3D images facilitate identification of a position of the abnormality in three dimensions as well as visualization of appearance of the abnormality in respective slice images.

2. The method of claim 1 in which said displaying comprises concurrently displaying the combination 2D image and at least one of the 3D slice images.

3. The method of claim 1 in which said displaying comprises displaying the combination 2D image and at least one of the 3D slice images in mutual registration.

4. The method of claim 1 in which said displaying comprises concurrently displaying the combination 2D image and a plurality of the 3D slice images.

5. The method of claim 1 in which said displaying comprises concurrently displaying the combination 2D image and a subset of the 3D slice images, wherein he subset comprises 3D slice images in which the abnormalities appear and the subset is automatically selected in response to an identification of the abnormality in the combination 2D image.

6. A method of multi-mode x-ray examination of a contrast-enhanced patient'"'"'s breast comprising:

introducing vascular contrast agent into a patient'"'"'s breast;

obtaining (i) 3D slice images of the patient'"'"'s breast that represent respective slices of the breast and are reconstructed through computer-processing a multiplicity of single-energy x-ray 2D tomosynthesis projection images of the patient'"'"'s breast, (ii) a low-energy x-ray 2D mammogram, and (ii) a high-energy x-ray 2D mammogram of the breast;

wherein said 2D tomosynthesis projection images and said 2D mammograms are taken in a single breast compression;

computer-processing the 2D low-energy mammogram and the 2D high-energy mammogram to form a weighted combination 2D image highlighting vascularity in the breast; and

displaying the combination 2D image and one or more of the 3D slice images;

wherein the displayed combination 2D image facilitates identification of a positions of a possible vascular abnormality in two dimensions, and the 3D slice images facilitate identification of the position of the abnormality in three dimensions as well as visualization of appearance of the abnormalities in respective slice images.

7. The method of claim 6 in which said displaying comprises concurrently displaying the combination 2D image and at least one of the 3D slice images.

8. The method of claim 6 in which said displaying comprises displaying the combination 2D image and at least one of the 3D slice images in mutual registration.

9. The method of claim 6 in which said displaying comprises concurrently displaying the combination 2D image and a plurality of the 3D slice images.

10. A method of multi-mode x-ray examination of a patient'"'"'s breast comprising:

obtaining 3D slice images representing respective slices of a patient'"'"'s breast formed by computer-processing, through a reconstruction algorithm, a multiplicity of x-ray 2D tomosynthesis projection images of the breast taken at respective angles of an imaging x-ray beam to the breast;

obtaining a 2D combination image of a low-energy 2D x-ray mammogram and a high-energy 2D x-ray mammogram of the breast in the presence of a contrast agent therein; and

concurrently displaying on a computer display the 2D combination image and one or more of the 3D slice images;

wherein the displayed combination 2D image facilitates identification of a positions of a possible vascular abnormality in two dimensions, and the 3D slice images facilitate identification of the position of the abnormality in three dimensions as well as visualization of appearance of the abnormalities in respective slice images.

11. The method of claim 10 in which said 2D tomosynthesis projection images are single-energy images.

12. The method of claim 10 in which said combination 2D image is a weighted combination of the high-energy and low-energy images.

13. The method of claim 10 in which said 2D projection images are dual-energy images.

14. A system for imaging a patient'"'"'s breast comprising:

a data acquisition and computer-processing system configured to image a patient'"'"'s breast with x-rays and generate (i) 3D slice images of the patient'"'"'s breast that represent respective slices of the breast and are reconstructed through computer-processing a multiplicity of single-energy x-ray 2D tomosynthesis projection images of the patient'"'"'s breast, (ii) a low-energy x-ray 2D mammogram, and (ii) a high-energy x-ray 2D mammogram of the breast;

said data acquisition and computer-processing system being further configured to combine said 2D low-energy mammogram and 2D high-energy mammogram to form a combination 2D image highlighting vascularity in the breast; and

a computer display system configured to selectively display the combination 2D image and one or more of the 3D slice images;

wherein the displayed combination 2D image facilitates identification of a positions of a possible vascular abnormality in two dimensions, and the 3D slice images facilitate identification of the position of the abnormality in three dimensions as well as visualization of appearance of the abnormalities in respective slice images.

15. The system of claim 14 in which the data acquisition and computer-processing system is further configured to respond to an identification of an abnormality in said combination 2D image by selecting a subset of said 3D slice images, which subset comprises the 3D slice images in which the identified abnormality appears, and said display system is further configured to concurrently display the combination 2D image and said subset of 3D slice images.