Image handling and display in X-ray mammography and tomosynthesis

1. A tomosynthesis system comprising:

an x-ray source selectively emitting an imaging x-ray beam, a breast immobilizing structure defining a volume for a patient's breast, and an x-ray imaging receptor arranged such that said x-ray beam passes first through the volume for the patient's breast before impinging on the imaging receptor;

a source support mounting the x-ray source for selective movement relative to the breast immobilizing structure;

an x-ray data acquisition control configured to:

cause the x-ray source to move through a plurality of different imaging positions relative to the breast immobilizing structure and selectively illuminate the imaging receptor with the x-ray beam for each of the imaging positions, and

cause the imaging receptor to provide imaging data in response to being illuminated with the x-ray beam for the different imaging positions;

a processing and image reconstruction unit configured to receive and process the imaging data and generate a plurality of projection x-ray images Tp and a plurality of reconstructed slices images Tr, wherein:

each image Tp is a projection x-ray image of the volume for the patient's breast taken with the x-ray beam for a respective one of the plurality of different positions of the x-ray source relative to the breast immobilizing structure; and

each image Tr is an image of a respective 3-dimensional slice of the volume for the patient's breast reconstructed through computer processing using at least several of the projection images Tp; and

an image display unit configured to selectively display selected ones of the slice images Tr and projection images Tp concurrently with indicia identifying each displayed image as a projection or a slice image.

2. The system of claim 1 in which the image display unit is further configured to display, concurrently with the display of a slice image Tr, indicia identifying a position of a respective 3-dimensional slice occupies in the volume for the patient's breast.

3. The system of claim 2 in which the display unit is further configured to show the position of slice by a mark on a bar, and to respond to user input moving the mark relative to the bar to change from one displayed Tr image to another.

4. The system of claim 1 in which the processing and image reconstruction unit is further configured to apply computer aided detection (CAD) processing to at least one of the Tp and Tr images to thereby identify suspected abnormalities therein, and the image display unit is configured to selectively display CAD marks on at least one of the displayed images identifying the locations therein of the suspected abnormalities.

5. The system of claim 1 including an anti-scatter grid between the volume for the patient's breast and the imaging receptor.

6. The system of claim 5 in which the grid comprises x-ray attenuating partitions that are focused on the x-ray source in at least one dimension.

7. The system of claim 6 in which the grid partitions are focused on the x-ray source in two dimensions.

8. The system of claim 1 in which the imaging receptor moves relative to the volume for the patient's breast while the x-ray source moves through the imaging positions.

9. The system of claim 1 in which the processing and reconstruction unit is configured to generate a mammogram image, and the image display unit is configured to display the mammogram image concurrently with the display of at least one of the Tp and Tr images.

10. The system of claim 1 in which the display unit is configured to concurrently display two or more images Tp that are taken for imaging positions separated from each other by at least one other imaging position.

11. The system of claim 1 in which the display unit is configured to concurrently display two or more images Tr that represent slices oriented to conform to intersecting planes.

12. A method comprising:

moving an x-ray source through a plurality of different imaging positions relative to a breast immobilizing structure and selectively illuminating the immobilizing structure and then an imaging receptor with the x-ray beam for each of the imaging positions;

deriving imaging data from the imaging receptor in response to being illuminated with the x-ray beam for said different imaging positions;

computer-processing the imaging data to generate projection x-ray images Tp and a plurality of reconstructed slices images Tr, wherein:

each image Tp is a projection x-ray image of the volume for the patient's breast taken with the x-ray beam for a respective one of the different positions of the x-ray source relative to the breast immobilizing structure; and

each image Tr is an image of a respective 3-dimensional slice of the volume for the patient's breast reconstructed through computer processing using at least several of the projection images Tp; and

selectively displaying selected ones of the slice images Tr and projection images Tp concurrently with indicia identifying each displayed image as a projection or a slice image.

13. The method of claim 12 including displaying, concurrently with the display of a slice image Tr, indicia identifying a position of a respective 3-dimensional slice in the volume for the patient's breast.

14. The method of claim 13 including showing the indicia as a mark on a bar, and responding to user input moving the mark relative to the bar to change from one displayed Tr image to another.

15. The method of claim 12 applying computer aided detection (CAD) processing to one or more of the Tp and Tr images to thereby identify suspected abnormalities therein, and selectively displaying CAD marks on one or more of the displayed images to identify the locations therein of the suspected abnormalities.

16. The method of claim 12 including providing an anti-scatter grid between the volume for the patient's breast and the imaging receptor.

17. The method of claim 16 including focusing the grid on the x-ray source in at least one dimension.

18. The method of claim 17 including focusing the grid on the x-ray source in two dimensions.

19. The method of claim 12 including moving the imaging receptor relative to the volume for the patient's breast while moving the x-ray source through the imaging positions.

20. The method of claim 12 generating a mammogram image and displaying the mammogram image concurrently with the display of one or more of the Tp and Tr images.

21. The method of claim 12 including concurrently displaying two or more images Tp that are taken for imaging positions separated from each other by at least one other imaging position.

22. The method of claim 12 including concurrently displaying two or more images Tr that represent slices oriented to conform to intersecting planes.

23. A method comprising:

moving an x-ray source through a plurality of different imaging positions relative to a breast immobilizing structure and selectively illuminating the immobilizing structure and then an imaging receptor with the x-ray beam for each of the imaging positions;

deriving imaging data from the imaging receptor in response to being illuminated with the x-ray beam for said different imaging positions;

computer-processing the imaging data to generate projection x-ray images Tp and a plurality of reconstructed slices images Tr, wherein:

each image Tp is a projection x-ray image of the volume for the patient's breast taken with the x-ray beam for a respective one of the different positions of the x-ray source relative to the breast immobilizing structure; and

each image Tr is an image of a respective 3-dimensional slice of the volume for the patient's breast reconstructed through computer processing using at least several of the projection images Tp; and

concurrently displaying two or more images, of which at least one is a slice image Tr and at least one is a projection image Tp.