Dependence of Contrast-Enhanced Lesion Detection in Contrast-Enhanced Digital Breast Tomosynthesis on Imaging Chain Design

Contrast-enhanced digital breast tomosynthesis CEDBT may improve contrast-enhanced lesion conspicuity and relative contrast quantification by improving three-dimensional visualization of lesion morphology, and reducing the integration of attenuation information along the axial direction. Improved visualization of patterns of contrast-enhancement and improved iodine quantification may help differentiate between malignant and benign enhancing lesions. The dependence of dual-energy contrast-enhanced lesion detectability on imaging chain design is investigated. Lesion detectability and relative iodine quantification is comparable for subtraction in either reconstruction or projection domains for both phantom and patient images. SART generally produces greater SDNR than FBP, and scatter correcting projections further improves SDNR.