NOVEL X-RAY MAMMOGRAPHY SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

WE WILL DEVELOP AND DEMONSTRATE A NEW HARDWARE ARCHITECTURE FOR X-RAY MAMMOGRAPHY SYSTEMS THAT WILL PROVIDE ENHANCED DIAGNOSTIC PERFORMANCE, PRODUCING HIGHER QUALITY IMAGES AT LOWER PATIENT DOSE AND LOWER EXAMINATION COST. THE PROJECT WILL IMPLEMENT A NOVEL LINE-SCAN EXPOSURE METHOD THAT ENHANCES THE SIGNAL-TO-NOISE PERFORMANCE OF THE SYSTEM, IMPROVING ITS SMALL-OBJECT AND DIFFUSE-OBJECT DETECTABILITY. A KEY COMPONENT OF THE DEVELOPMENT WILL BE THE INNOVATIVE LAYERED SYNTHETIC MICROSTRUCTURE (LSM) X-RAY OPTIC, A MEDIUM-BANDWIDTH X-RAY INTERFERENCE MIRROR WHICH WILL PARTICIPATE IN THE SPECTRAL CONDITIONING AND COLLIMATION OF THE MAMMOGRAPHY X-RAY BEAM. SINCE THE NEW SYSTEM WILL USE ROBUST HIGH-VOLTAGE TUNGSTEN-TARGET X-RAY TUBES, RATHER THAN THE CONVENTIONAL MOLYBDENUM TUBES, AN INCREASE IN TUBE LIFE AND A REDUCTION IN REPLACEMENT-CYCLE COSTS WILL ALSO RESULT. A SUCCESSFUL PROJECT WILL PROVIDE TO THE U. S. MEDICAL COMMUNITY A SUPERIOR MAMMOGRAPHY DIAGNOSTIC CAPABILITY, EFFECTED BY SOURCE AND COLLIMATION IMPROVEMENTS AS DRAMATIC AS THOSE ALREADY ACHIEVED IN THE AREA OF MAMMOGRAPHY INTENSIFYING SCREEN/FILM DETECTORS.