Optimization techniques of radiation dose for dedicated breast CT

Reducing radiation dose level, suppressing image artifacts and improving image quality are issues under intensive research in the dedicated breast CT (DBCT) development. In this study, a breast CT imaging platform and a Monte-Carlo simulation platform are built in the first place. Then the effects of tube voltage, mAs, filter and projection angle on the radiation dose level, artifacts and image quality are studied by using parameters such as radiation dose, signal-to-noise ratio and quality factor. Experiment results indicate that the quality factor is optimized when the tube voltage is chosen as 50kVp. Moreover, by reducing mAs, the DBCT can still obtain a good image quality in low radiation scan. Bowtie filters with appropriate shape can lead to a better dose efficiency than normal flat filters. Besides, short scan mode can reduce the radiation dose level by 40% with similar image quality compared with conventional scan mode.