Flexible Compression Paddle for Breast Tomosynthesis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional mammography techniques, including radiographic and tomosynthesis, face challenges in accurately visualizing breast tissue due to planar imaging limitations, while ultrasound provides good depth resolution but reduced in-plane resolution, and the non-planar shape of the breast surface complicates breast density estimation and 3D image reconstruction.
Innovation Solution
A multi-modality mammography system using a flexible compression paddle captures the breast surface geometry to improve breast density estimation and image reconstruction, integrating tomosynthesis and ultrasound imaging, with pre-processing and display enhancements to correct for non-uniform thickness and enhance image quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a rigid flat compression paddle is used, then the breast tissue is compressed uniformly, but the patient comfort is reduced and the non-planar breast surface cannot be accommodated
Solution Approach 1:
The compression paddle is designed with a flexible, non-planar surface that can conform to the curved geometry of the breast tissue. This curvature-based design allows the paddle to adapt to the natural shape of the breast, improving patient comfort while maintaining accurate compression for imaging.
Solution Approach 2:
The compression paddle utilizes a flexible membrane or thin film structure that can deform and conform to the breast surface geometry. This flexibility enables the paddle to accommodate non-planar breast shapes while maintaining uniform compression force distribution, resolving the contradiction between comfort and imaging accuracy.
2Ease of operation
If a flexible compression paddle is used, then patient comfort is improved, but the breast surface becomes non-planar which complicates density estimation and 3D reconstruction
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates sensors or detection mechanisms that monitor the actual breast surface geometry during compression. This feedback information is used to adjust the compression paddle's shape or position in real-time, ensuring that the breast surface remains planar or follows a known geometric pattern despite the flexibility of the paddle, thereby maintaining measurement precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The compression paddle is designed as a dynamic structure that can change its shape or stiffness characteristics during the imaging process. It may transition from a flexible state during positioning to a more rigid state during compression, or actively adjust its shape to maintain a planar breast surface, thus preserving measurement accuracy while providing comfort.
3Ease of operation
If a flexible compression paddle is used, then patient comfort is improved, but image reconstruction artifacts may increase due to non-uniform compression
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary measurement or mapping of the breast surface geometry before the actual compression and imaging process. This preliminary information is used to pre-adjust the compression paddle's shape or position, ensuring that uniform compression is achieved from the start, thereby preventing reconstruction artifacts while maintaining patient comfort.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system improves the accuracy of breast density estimation and image reconstruction by accounting for the non-planar breast shape, reducing artifacts and enhancing diagnostic clarity for radiologists, while providing patient comfort through conformable compression.
Implementation Method 1
a flexible mesh paddle is used to compress the breast
Implementation Method 2
In tomosynthesis X-ray attenuation data is obtained for a region of interest over an angular range
Implementation Method 3
An ultrasound imaging system uses an ultrasound probe for transmitting ultrasound signals into an object, such as the breast of the patient being imaged, and for receiving reflected ultrasound signals there from
Data Source
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AI summary
A method 300 of breast image reconstruction includes positioning a breast on an imaging system support plate 150, compressing the breast with a flexible paddle 500, obtaining 305 imaging data, estimating a breast thickness profile by at least one one of placing markers on the breast, performing an image-based analysis of the obtained data, using an auxiliary system, and performing a model-based computation. The three dimensional reconstruction 320 including using a thickness profile of the breast surface in at least one of an iterative reconstruction, a filtered back-projection reconstruction, and a joint reconstruction performed using information obtained from an ultrasound scan. A non-transitory medium having executable instructions to cause a processor to perform the method is also disclosed.