The integration of technology with healthcare has undoubtedly propelled the medical imaging sector well into the twenty
first century. The concept of digital imaging introduced during the 1970s has since paved the way for established
imaging techniques where digital mammography, phase contrast imaging and CT imaging are just a few examples. This
paper presents a prototype intelligent digital mammography system designed and developed by a European consortium.
The final system, the I-ImaS system, utilises CMOS monolithic active pixel sensor (MAPS) technology promoting on-chip
data processing, enabling the acts of data processing and image acquisition to be achieved simultaneously;
consequently, statistical analysis of tissue is achievable in real-time for the purpose of x-ray beam modulation via a
feedback mechanism during the image acquisition procedure. The imager implements a dual array of twenty 520 pixel ×
40 pixel CMOS MAPS sensing devices with a 32μm pixel size, each individually coupled to a 100μm thick thallium
doped structured CsI scintillator. This paper presents the first intelligent images of real breast tissue obtained from the
prototype system of real excised breast tissue where the x-ray exposure was modulated via the statistical information
extracted from the breast tissue itself. Conventional images were experimentally acquired where the statistical analysis of
the data was done off-line, resulting in the production of simulated real-time intelligently optimised images. The results obtained indicate real-time image optimisation using the statistical information extracted from the breast as a means of a
feedback mechanisms is beneficial and foreseeable in the near future.
R. Longo, A. Asimidis, D. Cavouras, C. Esbrand, A. Fant, P. Gasiorek, H. Georgiou, G. Hall, J. Jones, J. Leaver, G. Li, J. Griffiths, D. Machin, N. Manthos, M. Metaxas, M. Noy, J. Østby, F. Psomadellis, T. Rokvic, G. Royle, H. Schulerud, R. Speller, PF. van der Stelt, S. Theodoridis, F. Triantis, R. Turchetta, C. Venanzi
I-ImaS (Intelligent Imaging Sensors) is a European project aiming to produce adaptive x-ray imaging systems using Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS) to create optimal diagnostic images. Initial systems concentrate on mammography and cephalography.
The on-chip intelligence available to MAPS technology will allow real-time analysis of data during image acquisition, giving the capability to build a truly adaptive imaging system with the potential to create images with maximum diagnostic information within given dose constraints.
In our system, the exposure in each image region is optimized and the beam intensity is a function not only of tissue thickness and attenuation, but also of local physical and statistical parameters found in the image itself. Using a linear array of detectors with on-chip intelligence, the system will perform an on-line analysis of the image during the scan and then will optimize the X-ray intensity in order to obtain the maximum diagnostic information from the region of interest while minimizing exposure of less important, or simply less dense, regions.
This paper summarizes the testing of the sensors and their electronics carried out using synchrotron radiation, x-ray sources and optical measurements.
The sensors are tiled to form a 1.5D linear array. These have been characterised and appropriate correction techniques formulated to take into account misalignments between individual sensors.
Full testing of the mammography and cephalography I-ImaS prototypes is now underway and the system intelligence is constantly being upgraded through iterative testing in order to obtain the optimal algorithms and settings.
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