ECR 2013 Rec: Role of tomosynthesis in lung imaging #A-236 #EF1
A-236 Role of tomosynthesis in lung imaging
M. Båth | Saturday, March 9, 08:30 – 10:00 / Room G/H
Tomosynthesis is an imaging technique that in recent years has become available for lung imaging. Using low-dose projections of the chest, acquired over a limited angular range, an arbitrary number of section images can be reconstructed, enabling the chest to be visualised in millimetre-thick slices at a very low effective dose. Compared to conventional chest radiography, the disturbance of overlapping anatomy (the main limiting factor for detection of pathology, e.g. pulmonary nodules in chest radiography) is considerably reduced in chest tomosynthesis. Early evaluations have also shown that the detectability of pulmonary nodules is significantly higher in chest tomosynthesis than in conventional radiography. However, compared to computed tomography (CT) the limited angular range used in tomosynthesis results in a reduction in depth resolution, not allowing tomosynthesis to reach the same detection rate as can be obtained with CT. Especially, pathology in the subpleural region may be more difficult to interpret. Nevertheless, most lesions are visible in retrospect on chest tomosynthesis, suggesting that the technique may be suitable for follow-up. This presentation will summarise early evaluations and reported clinical experiences of the technique, as well as describe some of its strengths and limitations.
