New method for 3D reconstruction in digital tomosynthesis

Digital tomosynthesis mammography is an advanced x-ray application that can provide detailed 3D information about the imaged breast. We introduce a novel reconstruction method based on simple backprojection, which yields high contrast reconstructions with reduced artifacts at a relatively low computational complexity. The first step in the proposed reconstruction method is a simple backprojection with an order statistics-based operator (e.g., minimum) used for combining the backprojected images into a reconstructed slice. Accordingly, a given pixel value does generally not contribute to all slices. The percentage of slices where a given pixel value does not contribute, as well as the associated reconstructed values, are collected. Using a form of re-projection consistency constraint, one now updates the projection images, and repeats the order statistics backprojection reconstruction step, but now using the enhanced projection images calculated in the first step. In our digital mammography application, this new approach enhances the contrast of structures in the reconstruction, and allows in particular to recover the loss in signal level due to reduced tissue thickness near the skinline, while keeping artifacts to a minimum. We present results obtained with the algorithm for phantom images.