Optimization of a dual-energy contrast-enhanced technique for a photon-counting digital breast tomosynthesis system: I. A theoretical model.

Purpose: Dual-energy (DE) iodine contrast-enhanced x-ray imaging of the breast has been shown to identify cancers that would otherwise be mammographically occult. In this article, theoretical modeling was performed to obtain optimally enhanced iodine images for a photon-counting digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) system using a DE acquisition technique.

Methods: In the system examined, the breast is scanned with a multislit prepatient collimator aligned with a multidetector camera.