Erlangen 2026 – scientific programme

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ST: Fachverband Strahlen- und Medizinphysik

ST 1: Medical Imaging

ST 1.4: Talk

Tuesday, March 17, 2026, 11:45–12:00, KH 01.013

Dark-field imaging of cancerous breast tissue — •Markus Kraft, Markus Schneider, Gisela Anton, Martin Rongen, Veronika Ludwig, Constantin Rauch, and Stefan Funk — ECAP FAU, Erlangen, Deutschland

Talbot-Lau X-ray phase-contrast imaging provides, next to the attenuation of X-rays, additional information about the phase shift in the object.This yields two additional image modalities, the differential phase image and the dark-field image, which results from small-angle scattering.

For breast-cancer detection, the dark-field signal is particularly valuable, as it yields a higher sensitivity to fine structures like microcalcifications. Those can be an indicator for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), which accounts for 20-30% of breast cancer cases.

Currently, in at about 30% of DCIS operations, the cancer is not completely removed and a second operation is necessary. The goal of our project is to investigate the edges of the freshly removed cancer tissue for microcalcifications, via a dark-field CT. Ideally, this will enable us to provide immediate feedback to the surgeon if an increase of the surgical margin is necessary and, thereby preventing a second surgery.

Currently, we are optimizing the dark-field CT setup and are investigating sealed cancer-tissue samples provided by the "Pathologie Uniklinikum Erlangen" to verify the feasibility of the localization of microcalcifications.

Keywords: Phase-contrast imaging; Dark-field CT