Apparatus and method for digital scan mammography

Abstract

To improve breast mammography imagery via use of a digital “slot scanning” imaging system that accommodates the changing thickness of the breast from the chest wall to the nipple by scanning the breast from the chest outward to the nipple or vice versa instead of the side-to-side methodology and using Automatic Exposure Control or AEC parameters optimized for the changing thickness and composition of the breast at each scan location and an improved breast compression device, wherein uniform breast compression mechanism includes a first breast plate and a second breast plate, wherein at least one of said first breast plate and said second breast plates includes an angle adjustment or tilt to account for the high variability in breast sizes and configurations while maintaining optimal immobilization with excellent patient comfort.

1 . A method for imaging breast tissue of a breast, the method comprising:
 holding a breast between a first breast plate and a second breast plate, including angularly adjusting at least one of the first breast plate and the second breast plate to apply a substantially uniform compression force across a length of the breast orthogonal to a chest wall of a patient; and   under control of one or more processors configured with specific executable program instructions:
 precisely aligning a narrow slotted image detector with a tightly collimated line-shaped X-ray beam generated by an X-ray source; 
 obtaining a plurality of pre-measurements of the breast tissue of the breast along a line parallel to a chest wall of a patient to determine corresponding values for a physical parameter of the breast, including determining the thickness of the breast at a plurality of points along a length of the image detector; 
 determining a corresponding Automatic Exposure Control (AEC) parameter of the image detector, wherein a first AEC parameter for a first breast segment is different from a second AEC parameter for a second breast segment; 
 performing scan measurements using the corresponding AEC parameter. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the obtaining one or more pre-measurements further comprises determining the density of the breast at a second plurality of points along the length of the breast. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the obtaining one or more-pre-measurements includes obtaining up to 10 pre-measurements. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the performing operations include translating the image detector and the X-ray beam along the length of at least a portion of the breast. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising operating the image detector in time delay integration (TDI) mode. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining an extent of the substantially uniform compression force applied on the breast 
     
     
         7 . A method for imaging breast tissue of a breast, the method comprising:
 under control of one or more processors configured with specific executable program instructions:
 aligning an image detector with an X-ray beam generated by an X-ray source; 
 determining a corresponding Automatic Exposure Control (AEC) parameter of the image detector, wherein a first AEC parameter for a first breast segment is different from a second AEC parameter for a second breast segment; 
 performing scan measurements using the corresponding AEC parameter. 
   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the one or more processors further configured with specific executable program instructions:
 obtaining a plurality of pre-measurements of the breast tissue of the breast along a line parallel to a chest wall of a patient to determine corresponding values for a physical parameter of the breast.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the corresponding values for the physical parameter of the breast includes thickness of the breast at a plurality of points along a length of the image detector. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising: holding a breast between a first breast plate and a second breast plate. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein holding the breast between the first breast plate and the second breast plate includes angularly adjusting at least one of the first breast plate and the second breast plate to apply a substantially uniform compression force across a length of the breast orthogonal to a chest wall of a patient. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein holding the breast between the first beast plate and the second breast plate includes immobilizing the breast with a surface feature on at least one of the first breast plate or the second breast plate. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the X-ray beam is a collimated line-shaped X-ray beam. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the image detector is a slotted image detector. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the obtaining one or more pre-measurement further comprises determining the density of the breast at a second plurality of points along a length of the breast. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the obtaining one or more pre-measurements includes obtaining up to 10 pre-measurements. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the performing scan measurements includes translating the image detector and the X-ray beam along the length of at least a portion of the breast. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising operating the image detector in time delay integration (TDI) mode. 
     
     
         19 . A method for imaging breast tissue of a breast, the method comprising:
 holding a breast between a first breast plate and a second breast plate, including angularly adjusting at least one of the first breast plate and the second breast plate to apply a substantially uniform compression force across a length of the breast orthogonal to a chest wall of a patient; and   under control of one or more processors configured with specific executable program instructions:
 aligning an image detector with an X-ray beam generated by an X-ray source; 
 obtaining a plurality of pre-measurements of the breast tissue of the breast along a line parallel to a chest wall of a patient to determine corresponding values for a physical parameter of the breast; 
 determining, a corresponding Automatic Exposure Control (AEC) parameter of the image detector, wherein a first AEC parameter for a first breast segment is different from a second AEC parameter for a second breast segment; 
 performing scan measurements at each of the plurality of individually addressable sections of the image detector using the corresponding AEC parameter. 
   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising operating the image detector in time delay integration (TDI) mode.