A simulation study on strain image calculation from digital breast tomosynthesis data

When breast is subjected to compression, its tissues are deformed according to the elasticity distribution inside the breast and the pressure distribution on the breast surface. If multiple 3D digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) are taken with different compressing force, the deformation information of the compressed breast can be estimated. Tumor tissues, which are known to be much stiffer than normal breast tissues, would have smaller deformation as compared to the normal background tissues. Hence, the x-ray image intensity as well as displacements at the tumor region would change less than the background tissues. In this simulation study, we try to find out 3D strain map using displacement data taken from 3D breast tomosynthesis with different compression levels. We use finite element model (FEM) of breast with compressing device and calculated breast deformation data of compressed breast to estimate the strain. The study will be helpful to enhance tumor/cancerous region detection capability of DBT.