System and Method for Dual Energy and/or Contrast Enhanced Breast Imaging for Screening, Diagnosis and Biopsy

A method for imaging a breast of a patient, the method comprising:

• compressing, between an x-ray source and an x-ray detector, the breast of the patient;
• emitting, from the x-ray source, a first x-ray beam at a first x-ray energy;
• detecting, by the x-ray detector, the first x-ray beam after the first x-ray beam has passed through the breast;
• emitting, from the x-ray source, a second x-ray beam at a second x-ray energy, wherein the second x-ray energy is different from the first x-ray energy;
• detecting, by the x-ray detector, the second x-ray beam after the second x-ray beam has passed through the breast;
• based on the detected first x-ray beam and the second x-ray beam, generating, by a processor, at least one of a dual-energy tomosynthesis image or a dual-energy mammography image;
• and
• localizing a lesion of the breast within the at least one of the dual-energy tomosynthesis image or the dual-energy mammography image.

A system for imaging a breast of a patient, the system comprising:

• an x-ray source capable of selectively moving relative to a patient's breast;
• an imaging x-ray detector;
• a compression mechanism disposed between the x-ray source and the imaging x-ray detector;
• a control module programmed with a set of instructions that when executed cause the system to perform a set of operations, comprising:
• emitting, from the x-ray source, a first x-ray beam at a first x-ray energy;
• detecting, by the x-ray detector, the first x-ray beam after the first x-ray beam has passed through the breast;
• emitting, from the x-ray source, a second x-ray beam at a second x-ray energy, wherein the second x-ray energy is different from the first x-ray energy;
• detecting, by the x-ray detector, the second x-ray beam after the second x-ray beam has passed through the breast;
• based on the detected first x-ray beam and the second x-ray beam, generating, by a processor operatively connected to the x-ray detector, at least one of a dual-energy tomosynthesis image or a dual-energy mammography image;
• and
• localizing a lesion of the breast within the at least one of the dual-energy tomosynthesis image or the dual-energy mammography image.

A method for imaging a breast of a patient, the method comprising:

• compressing the breast, for a single compression, between an x-ray source and an x-ray detector;
• emitting, from the x-ray source, a plurality of first x-ray beams at a first x-ray energy;
• detecting, by the x-ray detector, the plurality of first x-ray beams;
• emitting, from the x-ray source, a plurality of second x-ray beams at a second x-ray energy, wherein the second x-ray energy is different from the first x-ray energy;
• detecting, by the x-ray detector, the plurality of second x-ray beams;
• generating a first plurality of tomosynthesis projection images from the detected plurality of first x-ray beams;
• generating a second plurality of tomosynthesis projection images from the detected plurality of second x-ray beams;
• generating a first plurality of 2D x-ray mammogram projection images from the detected first x-ray beams;
• generating a second plurality of 2D x-ray mammogram projection images from the detected second x-ray beams;
• generating, from the first plurality and the second plurality of tomosynthesis projection images, a plurality of dual-energy reconstructed tomosynthesis slice images;
• generating, from the first plurality and second plurality of 2D x-ray mammogram projection images, a combined dual-energy 2D mammogram image;
• displaying the combined dual-energy 2D mammogram image and at least one dual-energy reconstructed tomosynthesis slice image from the plurality of dual-energy reconstructed tomosynthesis slice images;
• and
• localizing an abnormality of the breast within the at least one of the displayed combined dual-energy 2D mammogram image or the displayed at least one dual-energy reconstructed tomosynthesis slice image.