Image handling and display in x-ray mammography and tomosynthesis

1. A method of displaying x-ray images of a patient's breast including:

selectively providing reconstructed slice images Tr that conform to a first set of respective imaging planes that are parallel to each other but are at different depths in the patient's breast and a second set of slice images Tr that conform to a second set of respective imaging planes that also are parallel to each other but are at respective different depths in the patient's breast, where the two sets of imaging planes are angled to each other, and

selectively scrolling though pairs of stereoscopically displayed Tr images, each pair comprising one Tr image from each set.

2. A method as in claim 1 further including reconstructing the images Tr from tomosynthesis projection x-ray images Tp, where each image Tr represents a respective 3-dimensional slice of the patient's breast.

3. A method as in claim 2 further including acquiring the images Tp by imaging the patient's breast with an imaging beam of x-rays directed through the breast along different directions when acquiring different ones of the Tp images.

4. A method as in claim 3 including selecting the angle between the two sets of images Tr to mimic the stereoscopic viewing of a pair of said images Tr from a perspective of a viewer's eyes.

5. A method as in claim 4 including selectively displaying one or more CAD marks on at least one of the displayed Tr images, said CAD marks being indicative of suspected abnormalities in the breast.

6. A method as in claim 5 including deriving said CAD marks from CAD analysis of at least one projection mammogram image Mp of the patient's breast.

7. A method as in claim 5 including deriving said CAD marks from CAD analysis of said tomosynthesis projection images Tp of the patient's breast.

8. A method of displaying x-ray images of a patient's breast including:

providing a plurality of projection images Tp of the patient's breast acquired at respective different angles of an imaging x-ray beam relative to the breast while the breast remains essentially immobilized;

selecting multiple pairs of said projection images Tp, each pair comprising images Tp taken at two different angles of said imaging x-ray beam relative to the patient's breast; and selectively displaying said pairs of projection images Tp such that both images of at least one pair are visible at the same time but different pairs or sets of pairs are visible at different times;

wherein said images Tp are acquired at respective successive angles of said imaging beam relative to the breast and said selecting comprises including, in each of said pairs, two images Tp acquired at angles that are spaced from each other by at least one angle at which another of said images Tp was acquired.

9. A method as in claim 8 in which the angles at which the images of a pair are spaced from each other by only one angle at which another one of said images Tp was acquired.

10. A method of displaying x-ray images of a patient's breast including:

providing a plurality of tomosynthesis projection images Tp of the patient's breast by imaging the breast with an imaging beam of x-rays directed along different directions when acquiring different ones of the Tp images, and at least one projection mammogram image Mp of the breast;

providing reconstructed tomosynthesis images Tr each representing a respective 3-dimensional slice of the patient's breast and derived through computer processing at least a subset of said projection images Tp;

providing CAD marks indicative of suspected abnormalities in the breast, said CAD marks being derived by computer processing at least some of said images Tp, Tr and Mp;

displaying said images Tp, Tr and Mp by concurrently showing to a viewer at least two of said images in a combination comprising at least one Tr image and at least one Tp image, or at least one Tr image and at least one Mp image, or at least one Tp image and at least one Mp image; and

selectively showing said CAD marks on the displayed images.

11. A method as in claim 10 including showing on at least one of the displayed images CAD marks derived by computer processing from images other than the displayed image.

12. A method as in claim 11 in which the CAD marks shown on a displayed Tr image are derived by computer processing said at least one Mp image.

13. A method as in claim 12 in which the CAD marks shown on a displayed Mp image are derived by computer processing at least one of said Tr images.

14. A method as in claim 10 including displaying, concurrently with displaying a Tr image, non-numeric indications of the position in the breast and the thickness of each breast slice represented by the displayed image Tr.

15. A method as in claim 14 including displaying, concurrently with displaying said non-numeric indications, indications of the positions in the breast of slices represented by images Tr for which CAD marks have been provided.

16. A method as in claim 10 including selectively restricting the displaying step to show only images with CAD marks.

17. A system comprising:

an x-ray data acquisition unit providing a plurality of tomosynthesis projection images Tp of the patient's breast by imaging the breast with an imaging beam of x-rays directed along different directions when acquiring different ones of the Tp images, and at least one projection mammogram image Mp of the breast;

a processing and image reconstruction unit configured to provide reconstructed tomosynthesis images Tr each representing a respective 3-dimensional slice of the patient's breast and each derived through computer processing at least a subset of said projection images Tp;

said processing and image reconstruction unit being further configured to process one or more of said images Tp, Tr an Mp to provide CAD marks indicative of suspected abnormalities in the breast;

and image display unit configured to display selected ones of said images Tp, Tr and Mp by concurrently showing to a viewer at least two of said images in a combination comprising at least one Tr image and at least one Tp image, or at least one Tr image and at least one Mp image, or at least one Tp image and at least one Mp image; and

said image display unit further being configured to selectively show said CAD marks on the displayed images.

18. A system as in claim 17 in which said image display unit is further configured to selectively display at the same rime one or more pairs of said images Tr, where the Tr images or a pair represent slices of the breast that at an angle to each other to thereby provide a stereoscopic view of images Tr representing breast slices.

19. A system as in claim 17 in which said image display unit is further configured to show said CAD marks on a displayed image other than an image from which said CAD marks have been provided.