Towards clinic-friendly solutions for patient trials in breast cancer phase contrast imaging

Phase-contrast imaging of the breast is expected to deliver significantly improved image quality and diagnostic value at a reduced radiation dose compared to present-day 2D X-ray mammography, digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and computed tomography (CT) and become a viable method for early diagnosis of breast cancer in women. This paper builds upon the evaluation of a novel protocol to evaluate 3D mammographic phase contrast imaging for the detection of breast cancer undertaken with a purpose designed phantom and selected breast cancer specimens. Following evaluation, propagation-based phase contrast imaging was demonstrated to have high contrast to noise ratio alongside an important reduction in radiation dose. The challenge now is to shift the focus of research to real clinic solutions, with the worldfirst demonstration of X-ray in-line full field phase-contrast mammographic tomography (PCT) with cancer patients through an international collaboration of a multi-disciplinary team.