MINIMAL DOSE DIGITAL BREAST RADIOGRAPHIC SYSTEM

THE APPLICANT PROPOSES TO UTILIZE ITS PATENTED X-RAY DETECTION TECHNIQUE AND ITS EXTENSIVE PATENTED AND PROPRIETARY DIGITAL DATA-HANDLING TECHNIQUES TO BUILD AN X-RAY MAMMOGRAPHIC IMAGING SYSTEM WHICH WILL PRODUCE DIAGNOSTIC IMAGES THAT MATCH OR EXCEED THE INFORMATION CONTENT OF EXISTING TECHNIQUES WITH A RADIATION BURDEN OF APPROXIMATELY 30 MR SKIN ENTRANCE EXPOSURE. THE SYSTEM WILLBE CAPABLE OF IMAGING 10 1P/MM OVER THE ENTIRE BREAST, VISUALIZING A CALCIFICATION WHICH IS 0.2 MM IN DIAMETER. INADDITION, THE SYSTEM WILL BE ABLE TO DIFFERENTIATE SMALLER DENSITY FLUCTUATIONS THAT CAN ANY X-RAY SYSTEM WHICH CURRENTLY EXISTS. A 2MM TISSUE TUMOR IMBEDDED IN A 6CM THICK BREAST WILL BE IMAGED AT A SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO OF 19 TO 1. THE APPLICANT HAS SUCCEEDED TO PRODUCING A SINGLE HIGH SPATIAL RESOLUTION, HIGH EFFICIENCY DETECTOR OF LIMITEDLENGTH. THE PHASE I RESEARCH WILL BE TO COMBINE THREE OF THESE MODULAR ELEMENTS WITH EXISTING DATA ACQUISITIONS AND DISPLAY SYSTEMS TO PRODUCE IMAGES OVER A LARGER FIELD. THISWILL DEMONSTRATE THE ABILITY TO DIGITALLY ALIGN MODULES AND OBTAIN HIGH QUALITY IMAGES OVER DISTANCES EXCEEDING ONE MODULE LENGTH. HOWEVER, LIMITATIONS IN DATA ACQUISITION SPEED WILL PREVENT IMAGING TIMES LESS THAN 20 SECONDS. PHASE II RESEARCH WILL COMBINE 10 MODULAR DETECTORS WITH HIGH SPEED DATA ACQUISTITON DEVICES AND SPECIALLY DESIGNED MECHANICAL DEVICES TO PROVIDE A PROTOTYPE IMAGING DEVICE FORPHANTOM EVALUATION AND LIMITED HUMAN VOLUNTEER FIELD TESTING.