Tomosynthesis system for breast imaging

A method for tomosynthesis x-ray imaging of an object, comprising the steps of:

• (A) irradiating the object, with x-ray radiation, from a series of positions defining an arc about the region, the arc spanning a plane intersecting the object and having an axis of rotation on a line in the plane and perpendicular to the array,
• (B) detecting the radiation transmitted through the object with a stationary detector array and storing image data for each of the positions, the image data being representative of x-ray intensity values, and
• (C) determining x-ray absorption points within the object based upon an image data set having image data corresponding to each of the positions.

In a mammography system of the type having an x-ray source that rotates in an arc about the breast to irradiate the breast from different positions on the arc, the arc having an axis of rotation and spanning a plane that intersects the breast, the improvement comprising:

• a stationary x-ray detector for detecting x-ray radiation transmitted through the breast and for producing image data representative of the intensity of the radiation;
• and
• a data processor for determining x-ray absorption points within the breast based upon an image data set having image data corresponding to positions along the arc, the processor having means for transforming the image data, at each of the positions, to a form representative of the expected intensity of x-ray radiation generated by the source at an offset position defined by the intersection between (a) a line in the plane that is substantially parallel to the detector, and (b) a line in the plane defined by the axis of rotation and by one of the positions corresponding to the image data.