Deformable Mapping Method to Relate Lesions in Dedicated Breast CT Images to Those in Automated Breast Ultrasound and Digital Breast Tomosynthesis Images

This work demonstrates the potential for using a deformable mapping method to register lesions between dedicated breast computed tomography (bCT) and both automated breast ultrasound (ABUS) and digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) images (craniocaudal CC] and mediolateral oblique MLO] views). Two multi-modality breast phantoms with external fiducial markers attached were imaged by the three modalities. The DBT MLO view was excluded for the second phantom. The automated deformable mapping algorithm uses biomechanical modeling to determine corresponding lesions based on distances between their centers of mass (d_COM) in the deformed bCT model and the reference model (DBT or ABUS). For bCT to ABUS, the mean d_COM was 5.2 ± 2.6 mm. For bCT to DBT (CC), the mean d_COM was 5.1 ± 2.4 mm. For bCT to DBT (MLO), the mean d_COM was 4.7 ± 2.5 mm. This application could help improve a radiologist's efficiency and accuracy in breast lesion characterization, using multiple imaging modalities.