Removing the Anti-Scatter Grid

Abstract

The use of an anti-scatter grid in mammography greatly improves image quality but necessitates an approximate doubling of the radiation dose and increased equipment cost. In this chapter, a software image enhancement technique is developed to achieve similar levels of performance to an antiscatter grid with just half the radiation dose. We investigate removing the effects of scatter from mammograms taken without a grid using the scatter model defined in Chapter 3. Figure 10.1 shows an example of the results. A major benefit of the use of models is that it allows an enhanced image to be generated in a clearly-defined manner: there is no need to experimentally refine thresholds, mask sizes, or contrast measures for each image. The work in this chapter is vital to the work in Chapter 9 which was about a technique called differential compression mammography that requires an increase of radiation dose; combining this work with that technique should allow differential compression mammography at the same dosage levels as currently used.