Characterisation of a Clinical Calibration Phantom for Mammography using a Medipix3RX Detector

Abstract

This report presents the implementation and validation of software oriented towards image analysis in the field of mammography. This software was used to assess the performance of a new detector based on the Medipix3RX chip, that allows spectroscopic imaging, which may help to reduce radiation dose on the patient. The visibility of early signs of breast cancer, microcalcifications, mimicked on a calibration phantom, has been quantified by calculation of the so-called contrast-to-noise ratio. This calculation, as well as a procedure to determine the location of a signal, was implemented in the analysis software. It has been shown that the contrast-to-noise ratio agrees quite well with expectations. The software has proven to be a useful tool in characterisation and will be used in future testing.