ArticleMedical physics2026
Modified Z-resolution protocol for digital breast tomosynthesis.
Article in Medical physics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
backgroundThe EUREF protocol measures the z-resolution of a digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) system via a ball bearing's (BB) point-spread function (PSF) and is quantified as the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the associated artifact spread function (ASF). PSF is largely governed by the apparent angle ( PURPOSE: The purpose of this work was to develop a z-resolution metric that more rigorously reflects the underlying local PSF's
methodsThe protocol was evaluated using analytically simulated and experimentally acquired DBT reconstructions of BBs displaced anteriorly and superiorly and compared against the EUREF protocol. The percent change in FWHM due to stochastic noise was used to quantify systematic noise susceptibility. The strength of the anti-correlation between FWHM and apparent angle α was used to assess each protocol's agreement with the PSF geometry.
resultsBy demonstrating a consistent linear anti-correlation between FWHM and α for both superior and anterior BB displacements, the Modified protocol faithfully captures the spatial variation in PSF. The Modified protocol also substantially reduces the noise-induced FWHM shift-by 98% in simulations and 84% in physical experiments-relative to the EUREF protocol.
conclusionsThe EUREF protocol exhibits systematic errors which can limit its reliability in characterizing the z-resolution. Our Modified protocol mitigates these shortcomings and restores concordance between measured z-resolution and the underlying local PSF geometry (
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