Renann De Faria Brandão
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Rodrigo De Barros Vimieiro
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Lucas Rodrigues Borges
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Renato França Caron
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Marcelo Andrade Costa Vieira
The validation of many dose optimization methods in x-ray imaging requires clinical images from a range of signal-to-ratio regimes. This data is commonly generated through computer simulation. For this purpose, our group developed a method to simulate dose reduction for digital breast tomosynthesis. In the previous work, tests were performed in a system that features an amorphous selenium detector with minimal pixel correlation. In the current work, we evaluate the simulation performance in an amorphous silicon system, which yields a relevant pixel correlation. Signal and noise characteristics in real and simulated images were measured using the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the normalized noise power spectrum (NNPS). The simulation method assessment was performed through the average relative error between simulated and real images. The SNR results point to an error of less than 2.5% between the images. The noise correlation influence was verified through the NNPS. The tests pointed to errors up to 55% between the real and simulated images when the correlation kernel is not considered, whereas the error considering the correlation kernel was kept around 5.5%. Therefore, the results show that the correlation kernel is a relevant factor to be considered when simulating amorphous silicon systems.
Improvement of Image Characteristics in Digital Breast Tomosynthesis by Incorporating a Compressed-sensing (CS) Deblurring Framework: Simulation Study