Motion detection for internal breast tissue in tomosynthesis

1. A method for identifying internal motion of a breast of a patient during an imaging procedure, the method comprising:

compressing the breast of the patient in a mediolateral oblique (MLO) position;

during compression of the breast, acquiring a first tomosynthesis MLO projection frame for a first angle with respect to the breast;

during compression of the breast, acquiring a second tomosynthesis MLO projection frame for a second angle with respect to the breast;

identifying a first boundary of a pectoral muscle in the first projection frame;

generating a first representation of the first boundary of the pectoral muscle;

identifying a second boundary of the pectoral muscle in the second projection frame;

generating a second representation of the second boundary of the pectoral muscle;

determining a difference between the first representation and the second representation; and

generating a motion score based on at least the difference between the first representation and the second representation.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first generated representation is a two-dimensional representation.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the difference is based on an area between the first representation and the second representation.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the difference is based on a minimum distance between the first representation and the second representation.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

comparing the difference to an expected value, wherein the expected value is based on at least one of:

an x-ray angle of an x-ray source for the first projection frame and an x-ray angle of the x-ray source for the second projection frame, or

a fitted curve based on at least the first tomosynthesis MLO projection frame and the second tomosynthesis MLO projection frame; and

based on the comparison of the difference to the expected value, generating a motion warning.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying at least a portion of the first projection frame and the second projection frame in a cine view concurrently with a plurality of parallel motion guides.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

receiving a selection of one of the plurality of the parallel motion guides;

receiving an input to move the selected parallel motion guide to a new location; and

based on the received input to move the selected parallel motion guide, displaying the selected parallel motion guide in the new location.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of parallel motion guides are evenly spaced relative to one another.

9. A method for identifying internal motion of a breast of a patient during an imaging procedure, the method comprising:

compressing the breast of the patient in a mediolateral oblique (MLO) position;

acquiring a plurality of tomosynthesis MLO projection frames during the compressing of the breast, wherein the plurality of tomosynthesis MLO projection frames include an image of a portion of the breast and a portion of a pectoral muscle of the patient;

for at least two of the plurality of the tomosynthesis MLO projection frames, identifying a boundary of the pectoral muscle;

for the at least two of the plurality of the tomosynthesis MLO projection frames, generating a representation for the boundary of the pectoral muscle;

determining a first difference between the generated representations for the at least two of the plurality of the tomosynthesis MLO projection frames;

determining a second difference between the first difference and an expected value for the first difference;

comparing the second difference to a predetermined threshold; and

based on the comparison of the second difference to the predetermined threshold, generating a motion warning.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the generated representation is a two-dimensional representation.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first difference is based on an area between the generated representations.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first difference is based on a minimum distance between the generated representations.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the second difference is a shift variance value.

14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising displaying at least a portion of the projection frames consecutively in a cine view concurrently with a plurality of parallel motion guides.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

receiving a selection of one of the plurality of the parallel motion guides;

receiving an input to move the selected parallel motion guide to a new location; and

based on the received input to move the selected parallel motion guide, displaying the selected parallel motion guide in the new location.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of parallel motion guides are evenly spaced relative to one another.

17. A system for identifying internal motion of a breast of a patient during an imaging procedure, the system comprising:

an x-ray source configured to move rotationally around the breast;

a compression paddle configured to compress the breast in a mediolateral oblique (MLO) position;

an x-ray detector disposed opposite the compression paddle from the x-ray source;

at least one processor; and

memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to perform a set of operations comprising:

during a compression of the breast in the MLO position:

emitting, from the x-ray source, a first x-ray emission from the x-ray source at a first angle relative to the breast;

detecting, by the x-ray detector, the first x-ray emission from the x-ray source after the first x-ray emission has passed through the breast;

emitting, from the x-ray source, a second x-ray emission at a second angle relative to the breast; and

detecting, by the x-ray detector, the second x-ray emission after the second x-ray emission has passed through the breast;

generating, based on the detected first x-ray emission, a first tomosynthesis MLO projection frame for the first angle;

generating, based on the detected second x-ray emission, a second tomosynthesis MLO projection frame for the second angle;

identifying a first boundary of a pectoral muscle in the first projection frame;

generating a first representation of the first boundary of the pectoral muscle;

identifying a second boundary of the pectoral muscle in the second projection frame;

generating a second representation of the second boundary of the pectoral muscle;

determining a difference between the first representation and the second representation; and

generating a motion score based on at least the difference between the first representation and the second representation.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the first generated representation is a two-dimensional representation.

19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the difference is based on an area between the first representation and the second representation.

20. The system of claim 17 , wherein the difference is based on a minimum distance between the first representation and the second representation.

21. A method for identifying internal motion of a breast of a patient during an imaging procedure, the method comprising:

compressing the breast of the patient;

acquiring a plurality of tomosynthesis projection frames during the compressing of the breast, wherein the plurality of tomosynthesis projection frames include an image of a portion of the breast and a portion of a pectoral muscle of the patient;

for at least a subset of the plurality of the tomosynthesis projection frames, identifying a boundary of the pectoral muscle;

for the identified boundaries of the pectoral muscle, generating a boundary representation for the identified boundary of the pectoral muscle;

generating a reference line that intersects the generated boundary representations;

identifying a reference point along the reference line;

for at least a subset of the generated boundary representations, calculating an intersection distance from the reference point to an intersection point of the respective boundary with the reference line;

determining expected intersection distance values based on the calculated intersection distances;

determining an intersection shift variance for each of the boundary representations for which an intersection distance is calculated;

comparing the intersection shift variance to a predetermined threshold; and

based on the comparison of the intersection shift variance to the predetermined threshold, generating a motion warning.