Empowering vision:Digital Breast Tomosynthesis

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide. It is therefore necessary to improve the diagnostic potential in this area.

Although conventional mammography is still the diagnostic standard in preventing breast cancer, the tomosynthetic technique allows for a stratigraphic study of the breast and therefore, in a significant number of cases, potentially more effective diagnostic outcomes.

DBT has a major impact in preventive screening for breast cancer. By exposing the patient to a limited dose of radiation and acquiring three-dimensional images, this technique allows the breast to be examined layer by layer while improving the visibility of the structures – including the early diagnosis of any tumours – which would overlap in classic digital mammograms

Strengths:

• Accuracy of geometric reconstruction, each object is rendered with precise spatial positioning and correct geometrical shape.
• Compatible with any X-ray system geometry, all types of detectors (as appropriate for the intended application), and a wide range of acquisition software
• The image appearance (brightness, contrast, detail) can be fully customized for both reconstructed and synthetic images.
• It implements advanced functions such as: Synthetic 2D Images, Metal Artefact Reduction (MAR), Flexible Slice Spacing, Slice-Level Aggregation Block (SLAB) and Prothesis Management.
• The software library is CE marked as a Class IIa medical device according to EU MDR 2017/745

Once the system has completed the acquisition of the X-ray projections, the images and the mechanical configuration are provided to the Digital Breast Tomosynthesis algorithm. Without weighing or slowing down the process, DBT reconstructs the three-dimensional volume as a set of planes. The volume is provided to the user software, which proceeds with the visualisation for medical reporting.