Abstract 2229: Mammography assessment of microcalcifications using a pixel detector system

Breast cancer is a major public health problem being the most frequently diagnosed malignancy and the second leading cause of dead from cancer among women in the United States. In 2015, there were expected around 231,840 new cases of invasive breast cancer, as well as 60,290 cases of in situ breast cancer, and 40,290 deaths. Worldwide, it represents 23% of the total cases diagnosed of cancer and 14% of the cancer deaths in female. Diagnosing breast cancer before it has the potential to invade surrounding tissue and metastasize can increase the chance of survival, reduce poor prognosis and the need of aggressive treatment. This is one of the main goals of early diagnosis that advocates mammography, the clinical examination and the breast self-examination as screening modalities for breast cancer. Recently, other technologies have been proposed like ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Although these screening methods have reduced the relative risk of death, they have some limitations in some population groups. The aim of this work is adapting and testing a semiconductor pixel detector, Timepix in a custom-swine breast phantom to evaluate its technical feasibility to introduce this technology in a clinical setting for mammography assessment based on microcalcification detection. Swine model is commonly used in medical research based on anatomical and histopathological characteristics closely resemble those of humans, and this is an advantage over the wax-based phantoms that contains aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) specks, nylon fibers and other inclusions to mimic microcalcifications and histopathological structures. The Timepix detector was used together with a Tungsten microfocus X-ray to detect hydroxyapatite crystals mimicking malignant microcalcifications with sizes ranged between 153-827μm, embedded into the swine phantom. To compare the detection performance in the swine phantom, a commercial phantom has been used (Model 015 CIRS Inc., Norfolk, VA, US). Both phantoms were tested on a clinical mammography system (Selenia Dimensions AWS 5000 ET19) and by using the experimental setup with the Timepix. This approach has potential to be used for mammography screening in different population groups based on its performance in microcalcifications detection. The results are highly relevant for further studies of the feasibility of pixel detectors for risk assessment and early diagnosis of breast cancer. Citation Format: Carlos Avila Bernal, Gerardo Roque, Roberto Rueda, Jorge Racedo. Mammography assessment of microcalcifications using a pixel detector system [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2229.