Method for Simulating Dose Reduction in Digital Breast Tomosynthesis
(2017) In IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging 36(11). p.2331-2342- Abstract
This paper proposes a new method of simulating dose reduction in digital breast tomosynthesis, starting from a clinical image acquired with a standard radiation dose. It considers both signal-dependent quantum and signal-independent electronic noise. Furthermore, the method accounts for pixel crosstalk, which causes the noise to be frequency-dependent, thus increasing the simulation accuracy. For an objective assessment, simulated and real images were compared in terms of noise standard deviation, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and normalized noise power spectrum (NNPS). A two-alternative forced-choice (2-AFC) study investigated the similarity between the noise strength of low-dose simulated and real images. Six experienced medical physics... (More)
This paper proposes a new method of simulating dose reduction in digital breast tomosynthesis, starting from a clinical image acquired with a standard radiation dose. It considers both signal-dependent quantum and signal-independent electronic noise. Furthermore, the method accounts for pixel crosstalk, which causes the noise to be frequency-dependent, thus increasing the simulation accuracy. For an objective assessment, simulated and real images were compared in terms of noise standard deviation, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and normalized noise power spectrum (NNPS). A two-alternative forced-choice (2-AFC) study investigated the similarity between the noise strength of low-dose simulated and real images. Six experienced medical physics specialists participated on the study, with a total of 2 160 readings. Objective assessment showed no relevant trends with the simulated noise. The relative error in the standard deviation of the simulated noise was less than 2% for every projection angle. The relative error of the SNR was less than 1.5%, and the NNPS of the simulated images had errors less than 2.5%. The 2-AFC human observer experiment yielded no statistically significant difference (p =0.84) in the perceived noise strength between simulated and real images. Furthermore, the observer study also allowed the estimation of a dose difference at which the observer perceived a just-noticeable difference (JND) in noise levels. The estimated JND value indicated that a change of 17% in the current-time product was sufficient to cause a noticeable difference in noise levels. The observed high accuracy, along with the flexible calibration, make this method an attractive tool for clinical image-based simulations of dose reduction.
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- author
- Borges, Lucas R. ; Guerrero, Igor ; Bakic, Predrag R. LU ; Foi, Alessandro ; Maidment, Andrew D.A. and Vieira, Marcelo A.C.
- publishing date
- 2017-11
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- digital breast tomosynthesis, dose reduction, Electronic noise, quantum noise
- in
- IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging
- volume
- 36
- issue
- 11
- article number
- 7949104
- pages
- 2331 - 2342
- publisher
- IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:28641248
- scopus:85023177059
- ISSN
- 0278-0062
- DOI
- 10.1109/TMI.2017.2715826
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 26c366c9-0f56-47cb-b535-86a416ef9e9b
- date added to LUP
- 2020-11-07 13:00:07
- date last changed
- 2024-04-17 19:11:58
@article{26c366c9-0f56-47cb-b535-86a416ef9e9b,
abstract = {{<p>This paper proposes a new method of simulating dose reduction in digital breast tomosynthesis, starting from a clinical image acquired with a standard radiation dose. It considers both signal-dependent quantum and signal-independent electronic noise. Furthermore, the method accounts for pixel crosstalk, which causes the noise to be frequency-dependent, thus increasing the simulation accuracy. For an objective assessment, simulated and real images were compared in terms of noise standard deviation, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and normalized noise power spectrum (NNPS). A two-alternative forced-choice (2-AFC) study investigated the similarity between the noise strength of low-dose simulated and real images. Six experienced medical physics specialists participated on the study, with a total of 2 160 readings. Objective assessment showed no relevant trends with the simulated noise. The relative error in the standard deviation of the simulated noise was less than 2% for every projection angle. The relative error of the SNR was less than 1.5%, and the NNPS of the simulated images had errors less than 2.5%. The 2-AFC human observer experiment yielded no statistically significant difference (p =0.84) in the perceived noise strength between simulated and real images. Furthermore, the observer study also allowed the estimation of a dose difference at which the observer perceived a just-noticeable difference (JND) in noise levels. The estimated JND value indicated that a change of 17% in the current-time product was sufficient to cause a noticeable difference in noise levels. The observed high accuracy, along with the flexible calibration, make this method an attractive tool for clinical image-based simulations of dose reduction.</p>}},
author = {{Borges, Lucas R. and Guerrero, Igor and Bakic, Predrag R. and Foi, Alessandro and Maidment, Andrew D.A. and Vieira, Marcelo A.C.}},
issn = {{0278-0062}},
keywords = {{digital breast tomosynthesis; dose reduction; Electronic noise; quantum noise}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{11}},
pages = {{2331--2342}},
publisher = {{IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.}},
series = {{IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging}},
title = {{Method for Simulating Dose Reduction in Digital Breast Tomosynthesis}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TMI.2017.2715826}},
doi = {{10.1109/TMI.2017.2715826}},
volume = {{36}},
year = {{2017}},
}