A new breast tomosynthesis imaging method: Continuous Sync-and-Shoot - technical feasibility and initial experience

Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) is gaining popularity in breast imaging. There are several different technical approaches for conducting DBT imaging.

To determine optimal imaging parameters, test patient friendliness, evaluate the initial diagnostic performance, and describe diagnostic advances possible with the new Continuous Sync-and-Shoot method.

Thirty-six surgical breast specimens were imaged with digital mammography (DM) and a prototype of a DBT system (Planmed Oy, Helsinki, Finland). We tested the patient friendliness of the sync-and-shoot movement without radiation exposure in eight volunteers. Different imaging parameters were tested with 20 specimens to identify the optimal combination: angular range 30°, 40°, and 60°; pixel binning; Rhodium (Rh) and Silver (Ag) filtrations; and different kV and mAs values. Two breast radiologists evaluated 16 DM and DBT image pairs and rated six different image properties. Imaging modalities were compared with paired t-test.

The Continuous Sync-and-Shoot method produced diagnostically valid images. Five out of eight volunteers felt no/minimal discomfort, three experienced mild discomfort from the tilting movement of the detector, with the motion being barely recognized. The combination of 30°, Ag filtering, and 2 × 2 pixel binning produced the best image quality at an acceptable dose level. DBT was significantly better in all six evaluated properties (P < 0.05). Mean Dose_DBT/Dose_DM ratio was 1.22 (SD = 0.42).

The evaluated imaging method is feasible for imaging and analysing surgical breast specimens and DBT is significantly better than DM in image evaluation.