# PATIENT-SPECIFIC NARROW BEAM BREAST CT

> **NIH NIH R43** · MALCOVA LLC · 2021 · $400,000

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Early and reliable detection of breast cancer remains a challenge, particularly in women with dense and
extremely dense breasts. Breast density is associated with reduced sensitivity and specificity of cancer
detection in established screening technologies – mammography and tomosynthesis. Dedicated breast CT
is a promising solution to this problem as it provides fully tomographic imaging of the breast without
compression and superior mass lesion detection. It has not yet been widely adopted, however, in large part
due to three key limitations. Currently available architectures of dedicated breast CT suffer from limited
visibility of microcalcifications, high radiation dose levels, and suboptimal coverage of the posterior breast
anatomy. Our novel design for breast CT is a proprietary technology that effectively overcomes these
limitations. We accomplish this by utilizing narrow-beam image acquisition strategy and allowing the
anatomy of the breast to dictate specific imaging parameters. Critical to our design are the significant
reduction in radiation dose to breast and achievement of near scatter-free image acquisition, thereby
increasing the visibility of microcalcifications. The unique architecture of our design facilitates improved
coverage of the chest wall anatomy and the potential for simultaneous bilateral imaging of both breasts
without the need for patient repositioning. We have conducted a series of preliminary simulation studies to
evaluate these gains and have reported the results in publications. In this Phase 1 project, we seek to
complete a physical prototype of our design to replicate the simulation results. Our final product on
completion of Phase 2 will be a novel dedicated breast CT technology that can be used for screening and
diagnostic applications. This product will serve as a platform for subsequent technology plug-ins such as
integrated biopsy, computer aided detection and computer aided diagnosis.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10254640
- **Project number:** 1R43CA261381-01
- **Recipient organization:** MALCOVA LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** Peymon Ghazi
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $400,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-05-01 → 2022-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10254640

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10254640, PATIENT-SPECIFIC NARROW BEAM BREAST CT (1R43CA261381-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-12 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10254640. Licensed CC0.

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