A NOVEL DETECTOR FOR DIGITAL MAMMOGRAPHY

DESCRIPTION (Provided by Applicant): Early detection of breast tumors is
critical to the successful treatment of breast cancer. At present, x-ray
mammography is the only imaging modality with a proven capability for detecting
early-stage breast cancer and reducing mortality. To ensure early detection
mammographic screening must be accomplished with a significantly improved image
quality using the lowest possible radiation dose.

Presently, the most efficient and cost-effective method to achieve this
objective is screen-film mammography, which limits the display of low contrast
structures, typical of mammary tumors and micro-calcifications. Detectors based
on CCD or a-Si:H arrays promise to overcome these limitations. However, the use
of conventional phosphors in these detectors limits their performance due to
the compromise between x-ray stopping power and spatial resolution.

To address these issues, we propose to develop an advanced digital detector
based on pixilated micro-structured scintillator allowing high resolution, high
contrast diagnostic imaging with enhanced sensitivity. The novel scintillator
will allow imaging with lower dose than film-screen, will be ideal for new
digital mammography systems, and will provide a wide dynamic range along with
the capability of image enhancements.
PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION:
In addition to the enormous clinical x-ray imaging market, the proposed development of novel
pixelated scintillator would find widespread use in instrumentation whenever high-resolution
x-ray imaging is used. A novel imaging system formed by coupling these sensors to digital
detectors may be applied to macromolecular crystallography, non-destructive testing, x-ray
astronomy, and basic physics experiments. Currently the x-ray imaging market is estimated
to be in hundreds of millions of dollars, a significant fraction of which represents applications
where the proposed technology may be directly adapted.