Lucas R Borges1,2, Bruno Barufaldi3, Renato F Caron4, Predrag R Bakic3, Alessandro Foi2, Andrew D A Maidment3, Marcelo A C Vieira1. 1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of São Paulo, São Carlos, SP, 13566-590, Brazil. 2. Laboratory of Signal Processing, Tampere University, Tampere, 33720, Finland. 3. Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA. 4. Barretos Cancer Hospital, Pio XII Foundation, Barretos, SP, 14784-400, Brazil.
Abstract
PURPOSE: To investigate the use of an affine-variance noise model, with correlated quantum noise and spatially dependent quantum gain, for the simulation of noise in virtual clinical trials (VCT) of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT). METHODS: Two distinct technologies were considered: an amorphous-selenium (a-Se) detector with direct conversion and a thallium-doped cesium iodide (CsI(Tl)) detector with indirect conversion. A VCT framework was used to generate noise-free projections of a uniform three-dimensional simulated phantom, whose geometry and absorption match those of a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) uniform physical phantom. The noise model was then used to generate noisy observations from the simulated noise-free data, while two clinically available DBT units were used to acquire projections of the PMMA physical phantom. Real and simulated projections were then compared using the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and normalized noise power spectrum (NNPS). RESULTS: Simulated images reported errors smaller than 4.4% and 7.0% in terms of SNR and NNPS, respectively. These errors are within the expected variation between two clinical units of the same model. The errors increase to 65.8% if uncorrelated models are adopted for the simulation of systems featuring indirect detection. The assumption of spatially independent quantum gain generates errors of 11.2%. CONCLUSIONS: The investigated noise model can be used to accurately reproduce the noise found in clinical DBT. The assumption of uncorrelated noise may be adopted if the system features a direct detector with minimal pixel crosstalk.
PURPOSE: To investigate the use of an affine-variance noise model, with correlated quantum noise and spatially dependent quantum gain, for the simulation of noise in virtual clinical trials (VCT) of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT). METHODS: Two distinct technologies were considered: an amorphous-selenium (a-Se) detector with direct conversion and a thallium-doped cesium iodide (CsI(Tl)) detector with indirect conversion. A VCT framework was used to generate noise-free projections of a uniform three-dimensional simulated phantom, whose geometry and absorption match those of a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) uniform physical phantom. The noise model was then used to generate noisy observations from the simulated noise-free data, while two clinically available DBT units were used to acquire projections of the PMMA physical phantom. Real and simulated projections were then compared using the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and normalized noise power spectrum (NNPS). RESULTS: Simulated images reported errors smaller than 4.4% and 7.0% in terms of SNR and NNPS, respectively. These errors are within the expected variation between two clinical units of the same model. The errors increase to 65.8% if uncorrelated models are adopted for the simulation of systems featuring indirect detection. The assumption of spatially independent quantum gain generates errors of 11.2%. CONCLUSIONS: The investigated noise model can be used to accurately reproduce the noise found in clinical DBT. The assumption of uncorrelated noise may be adopted if the system features a direct detector with minimal pixel crosstalk.
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