Sunnybrook Research Institute

Nova R&d, Inc.

Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Ctr.

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Gordon Mawdsley

Martin Yaffe

James Mainprize

David Green

Tumay O Tumer

James F Asbrock

Dale G Maeding

Jonathan Ho

Oliver Alonzo-Proulx

Shi Yin

Olivier Alonzo-Proulx

Jiwei Yang

Gina Clarke

Systems and methods for generating imaging biomarkers that indicate detectability or conspicuity of lesions that may be present in mammographic images are provided. In general, a task-based measure of a signal-to-noise ratio ('SNR') measurement of a detection task is computed over a number of small regions-of-interest ('ROIs') in an image, and the computed parameter is used to predict what detection rates should be if a lesion was present in the image. As such, the computed parameter can be used to define an imaging biomarker that is a &#x201c;masking measure&#x201d; that indicates the degree of conspicuity of lesions that may be present in a given a mammographic image.

Systems and methods for generating an imaging biomarker that indicates detectability of conspicuity of lesions in a mammographic image

A system and method for measuring volumetric breast density using a low dose of radiation are provided. This low-dose image can be added to a standard mammographic screening protocol with less than a two percent increase in radiation dose imparted to the subject. This low-dose image can also be used as a single standalone test to determine breast density for younger women for the purposes of risk determination or screening regimen planning. The breast density measurement is more accurate than measurements that can be obtained with existing systems and methods by making use of a compression assembly that maintains a parallel alignment between the compression paddle and breast support table. Additionally, the compression assembly maintains a uniform known thickness of the compressed breast. The system and method have the added benefit that they can be readily implemented on a conventional digital x-ray unit with low cost.

System and method for low x-ray dose breast density evaluation

A tissue slicer system that includes a tissue slicing mold capable of producing very thin (e.g., on the order of 3 mm) and uniform slices to be captured from whole, fresh tissue specimens, notably breast lumpectomies, while minimizing distortion. These thin, uniform whole-specimen slices of the fresh surgical specimen increase the area of tissue available for inspection, reduce the amount of tissue lost in trimming during microtomy, and permit tissue processing for producing whole-mount sections.

Tissue slicer system having a tissue slicing mold for rapid grossing and hypersampling of large surgical specimens

An integrated application specific integrated circuit having a detection layer, a time delayed integration capability, data acquisition electronics, and a readout function is provided for detecting breast cancer in women. The detection layer receives x-ray radiation and converts the received energy to electron pairs, one of which is received by pixels. The time delay integration is on the chip and a part of the readout architecture. The detector may be a hybrid silicon detector (SiPD), a CdZnTe detector, or a GaAs detector.

High resoultion digital imaging apparatus

A method and apparatus for determining a degree of deflection in a breast compression plate. The mammography apparatus further includes an optical measuring device. The method and apparatus involve (a) providing a pattern on the breast compression plate, the pattern being imagable by the optical measuring device, and having a plurality of local pattern indicia; (b) adjusting the breast compression plate to a selected height; (c) imaging the breast compression plate using the optical measuring device to provide an image of the pattern, the image having a plurality of local image indicia including an associated local image indicia for each local pattern indicia in the plurality of local pattern indicia; and (d) for each local pattern indicia in the plurality of local pattern indicia, determining an associated local deflection of the breast compression plate from the associated local image indicia.

Method and apparatus for measuring the thickness of compressed objects

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Toronto, Canada

Gordon Mawdsley