This work describes the design, development and added value of breast-supporting cups to immobilize and position the pendant breast in photoacoustic tomographic imaging. We explain the considerations behind the choice of the material, the shape and sizes of a cup-shaped construct for supporting the breast in water in an imaging tank during full-breast imaging. We provide details of the fabrication, and other processing and testing procedures used. Various experiments were conducted to demonstrate the added value of using these cups. We show that breast movement during a measurement time of four minutes is reduced from maximum 2 mm to 0.1 mm by the use of cups. Further, the presence of the cup, centered in the aperture leading to the imaging tank, ensures that the breast can be reproducibly positioned at the center of the field-of-view of the detection aperture in the tank. Finally, since an accurate delineation of the water-tissue boundary can now be made, the use of the cup enables accurate application of a two-speed of sound model for reconstruction. All in all, we demonstrate that the use of cups to support the breast provides clear enhancement in contrast and resolution of breast images in photoacoustic imaging.

这项工作描述了乳房支撑杯的设计，开发和增值，以固定和定位悬垂乳房在光声层析成像中的位置。我们解释了在全乳腺成像过程中选择材料，杯形结构的形状和尺寸背后的考虑因素，该结构用于在成像槽中的水中支撑乳房。我们提供制造细节以及所使用的其他处理和测试程序。进行了各种实验以证明使用这些杯子的附加价值。我们显示，通过使用杯子，四分钟测量时间内的乳房运动从最大2毫米减少到0.1毫米。此外，杯子的中心位于通向成像槽的孔中，确保将乳房可重现地定位在水箱中检测孔的视场中心。最后，由于现在可以精确地描绘出水组织的边界，因此使用杯子可以准确地应用两速声音模型进行重建。总而言之，我们证明了使用杯托来支撑乳房可以明显增强光声成像中的乳房图像的对比度和分辨率。