We present the first evaluation of a recently developed silicon-strip detector for photon-counting dual-energy breast tomosynthesis. The detector is well suited for tomosynthesis with high dose efficiency and intrinsic scatter rejection. A method was developed for measuring the spatial resolution of a system based on the detector in terms of the three-dimensional modulation transfer function (MTF). The measurements agreed well with theoretical expectations, and it was seen that depth resolution was won at the cost of a slightly decreased lateral resolution. This may be a justifiable trade-off as clinical images acquired with the system indicate improved conspicuity of breast lesions. The photon-counting detector enables dual-energy subtraction imaging with electronic spectrumsplitting. This improved the detectability of iodine in phantom measurements, and the detector was found to be stable over typical clinical acquisition times. A model of the energy resolution showed that further improvements are within reach by optimization of the detector.
@article{arxiv.2101.09435,
title = {A photon-counting detector for dual-energy breast tomosynthesis},
author = {Erik Fredenberg and Mats Lundqvist and Magnus Aslund and Magnus Hemmendorff and Bjorn Cederstrom and Mats Danielsson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2101.09435},
year = {2021}
}