Towards patient imaging with dedicated emission mammotomography

A patient bed was recently developed and subsequent modifications made for 3D, pendant breast imaging with a dedicated emission mammotomography system that incorporates a discretized 16×20cm2 CZT gamma camera with 2.5mm pixels. Goals for these experiments include: (1) designing acquisition orbits to minimize effects from complications that arise with patient positioning; (2) determining whether axillary imaging is possible in this configuration; and (3) determining an amount of system tilt to adequately image the breast. Data was initially acquired with Tc-99m-filled anthropomorphic breast and torso phantoms for each of three cases: activity in the breast only; activity in the breast and torso; activity in both, with lead shielding placed on the pallet (to mimic an intended custom-designed lead-lined pallet). Projection data were acquired using both simple and complex 3D orbits. We have found that acquisition orbits can be modified to accommodate the bed's physical hindrances and still recover most of the volume of interest, while minimizing distortion and artifacts in the reconstructed images. Overall, the results indicate this approach could be a beneficial diagnostic tool to aid in the characterization of lesions. © 2005 IEEE.