Population of 100 realistic, patient-based computerized breast phantoms for multi-modality imaging research

Breast imaging is an important area of research with many new techniques being investigated to further reduce the morbidity and mortality of breast cancer through early detection. Computerized phantoms can provide an essential tool to quantitatively compare new imaging systems and techniques. Current phantoms, however, lack sufficient realism in depicting the complex 3D anatomy of the breast. In this work, we created one-hundred realistic and detailed 3D computational breast phantoms based on high-resolution CT datasets from normal patients. We also developed a finite-element application to simulate different compression states of the breast, making the phantoms applicable to multimodality imaging research. The breast phantoms and tools developed in this work were packaged into user-friendly software applications to distribute for breast imaging research.