Breast biopsy and needle localization using tomosynthesis systems

A method for performing a wire localization procedure for a patient's breast, said method comprising:

• performing a tomosynthesis scan of the patient's breast using a source of an imaging x-ray beam that moves through a multiplicity of imaging positions along a source trajectory, and obtaining image data from the tomosynthesis scan and deriving therefrom tomosynthesis reconstructed images representing respective slices of the breast;
• displaying at least some of the tomosynthesis reconstructed images of the patient's breast;
• receiving an indication on at least one of the tomosynthesis reconstructed images of an area of interest within the patient's breast, and determining therefrom three-dimensional coordinates of the area of interest;
• positioning a localization wire with a needle in the patient's breast based on the determined three-dimensional coordinates of the area of interest;
• emitting a verification x-ray beam from the source at a plurality of verification x-ray positions each disposed at an orientation to the needle and patient's breast so as to verify the position of the localization wire relative to the area of interest;
• and
• reducing image artifacts due to the presence of the needle.

A method for performing a wire localization procedure for a patient's breast, the method comprising:

• compressing the patient's breast between a support plate and a compression paddle, wherein the breast is disposed between an x-ray source and an x-ray receptor;
• providing a localization wire and a needle;
• positioning the localization wire with the needle in the patient's breast;
• performing an imaging scan of the breast using the x-ray source that moves through a plurality of potential imaging positions along a source trajectory, and emitting an x-ray from the x-ray source at a non-interfered imaging position of the plurality of potential imaging positions, wherein at the non-interfered imaging position, the needle is disposed so as to not form a shadow in an area of interest;
• obtaining image data at the x-ray receptor from the imaging scan;
• and
• displaying the position of the localization wire.

A method for performing a wire localization procedure for a patient's breast, said method comprising:

• positioning a localization wire with a needle in the patient's breast based at least in part on three-dimensional coordinates of an area of interest;
• performing a tomosynthesis scan of the patient's breast using a source of an imaging x-ray beam that moves through a plurality of imaging positions along a source trajectory, wherein the plurality of imaging positions comprise interfered positions where image data includes an artifact of the needle and non-interfered positions where image data does not include the artifact of the needle;
• and
• processing the image data obtained from both the interfered and non-interfered positions to obtain from the image data (i) tomosynthesis projection images of the breast taken from more than two of the imaging positions of the source relative to the patient's breast and (ii) tomosynthesis reconstructed slice images representing respective slices of the patient's breast, wherein processing the image data comprises reducing an appearance of the artifact of the needle in the tomosynthesis projection images and the tomosynthesis reconstructed slice images.