Tomosynthesis Image Slabs for Focused Breast Tissue Screening
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing tomosynthesis systems generate large volumes of data that are difficult to process and display effectively for optimal breast cancer screening and diagnosis, as a single 2D image may contain excessive information.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for generating and displaying 2D image slabs by processing subsets of reconstructed tomosynthesis image slices, using an image processing computer to create synthesized 2D images from subsets of reconstructed slices, with optional user-defined overlap and enhancement mechanisms to highlight relevant features.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If a single 2D image is synthesized from the entire tomosynthesis data set, then an overview of the image data is provided, but the image contains too much data to facilitate optimal screening and diagnosis
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the tomosynthesis data set into multiple subsets, with each subset corresponding to a specific region of interest (ROI) within the breast tissue. Instead of synthesizing one comprehensive 2D image from all data, the system creates multiple specialized 2D images (slabs), each containing only the relevant information for a particular anatomical region. This segmentation reduces information overload while maintaining diagnostic completeness.
2Measurement precision
If multiple 2D images are generated from different subsets of reconstructed slices, then feature detection is enhanced, but data processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary identification of regions of interest (ROIs) within the 3D tomosynthesis data set before synthesizing the final 2D slab images. By pre-segmenting the data into anatomically relevant regions and pre-processing the subsets, the system reduces the complexity of the subsequent image synthesis step. This preliminary organization of data makes the overall processing more manageable despite generating multiple images.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for processing breast tissue images includes an image processing computer and a user interface operatively coupled to the image processing computer, wherein the image processing computer is configured to obtain image data of breast tissue, processing the image data to generate a set of reconstructed image slices, the reconstructed image slices collectively depicting the breast tissue, process respective subsets of the reconstructed image slices to generate a set of image slabs, each image slab comprising a synthesized 2D image of a portion of the breast tissue obtained from a respective subset of the set of reconstructed image slices.