X-ray imaging is a corner stone of breast cancer diagnosis. By exploiting the phase shift of X-rays rather than their attenuation, phase-contrast tomography has the potential to dramatically increase the visibility of small and low contrast features, thus leading to better diagnosis. This thesis presents research on the first synchrotron-based project developing a clinical phase-contrast breast computed tomography (CT) setup at Elettra, the Italian Syncrotron Radiation Facility. This book includes a comprehensive theoretical background on propagation-based phase-contrast imaging, exploring and extending the most recent image formation models. Along with theory, many practical implementation and optimization issues, ranging from detector-specific processing to setup geometry, are tackled on the basis of a large number of experimental evidences. Most of the modelling results and data analysis have general validity, being a valuable framework for optimization of phase-contrast setups. Results obtained at synchrotron are also compared with “real world” laboratory sources: both a first-of-its-kind comparison with one of the few hospital breast CT systems and a state-of-the-art implementation of monochromatic phase-contrast micro-tomography with a conventional rotating anode source are presented. On a more general level, this work sheds a light on the importance of synchrotron-based clinical programs, which are key to trigger the long-anticipated transition of phase-contrast imaging from synchrotrons to hospitals.

X-Ray Phase Contrast
Phase-Contrast Tomography
Breast CT
Computed Tomography
Synchrotron Radiation
Propagation-Based Imaging
X-Ray Imaging
Clinical Application of Synchrotron
Breast Imaging

• Front Matter
• Introduction
• Physics of Propagation-Based X-Ray Tomography
• Propagation-Based Breast CT and SYRMA-3D Project
• Detector and Pre-processing
• Experimental Optimization of Propagation-Based BCT
• Three-Dimensional Imaging: A Clinically Oriented Focus
• Do We Need Clinical Applications in Synchrotrons?
• Conclusions
• Back Matter

Department of Physics, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
Luca Brombal

Book Title
X-Ray Phase-Contrast Tomography

Book Subtitle
Underlying Physics and Developments for Breast Imaging

Authors
Luca Brombal

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60433-2

Hardcover ISBN
978-3-030-60432-5
Published: 17 November 2020

Softcover ISBN
978-3-030-60435-6
Published: 17 November 2021

eBook ISBN
978-3-030-60433-2
Published: 16 November 2020

Series ISSN
2190-5053

Series E-ISSN
2190-5061

Edition Number
1

Number of Pages
XIII, 140

Number of Illustrations
15 b/w illustrations, 53 illustrations in colour

Topics
Biological and Medical Physics, Biophysics, Cancer Research, Imaging / Radiology, Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Plasma Physics