| 摘要 |
A method apparatus and computer product for imaging a human breast to map the breast ductal tree is disclosed. First, a breast is diffusion tensor imaged with high spatial resolution. Then the breast ductal tree is tracked using a protocol for breast based on echo-planar imaging (EPI) diffusion designed for optimizing diffusion weightings (b values), number of non-collinear directions for tensor calculations, diffusion, echo and repetition times, spatial resolution, signal to noise, scanning time and a sequence for fat suppression. The diffusion tensor is calculated by a non-linear best fit algorithm and then diagonalized with principal component analysis to three eigen vectors and their corresponding eigen values. A vector field map is obtained for tracking of breast ducts of the ductal trees along the direction of the 1st eigenvector v1 and the ductal tree is displayed on a voxel by voxel basis in parametric images using color coding and vector pointing. |
