A digital detection system for synchrotron radiation breast tomography

A silicon strip detector in edge-on configuration with a single photon counting (SPC) read-out electronics was developed for the MATISSE (MAmmographic and Tomographic Imaging with Silicon detectors and Synchrotron radiation [SR] at Elettra) project. MATISSE is an experiment of the interdisciplinary sector of the INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare), aiming at a preclinical phase of tomomammographic examinations at SYRMEP (Synchrotron Radiation for Medical Physics) beamline of Elettra, the Trieste SR facility. With a high intensity SR source it is possible to obtain practically monochromatic laminar beams, in the energy range 8-35 keV. The MATISSE detector is side illuminated, thus allowing direct, high efficiency, conversion of X-rays. The read out electronics operates in SPC mode, maximizing the signal-to-noise ratio of the images. Thanks to the characteristics of the radiation source and to the high efficiency of the detector, the dose delivered in a tomographic examination results comparable to the one delivered in planar conventional mammography. Detector prototypes have been assembled and tested with promising results. New tests and first tomographic images of phantoms and 'in vitro' samples have been planned in the next months at the SYRMEP beamline.