Investigation of suitable biopsy markers for grating-based phase contrast mammography

Phase-contrast mammography is a rising technology where, in addition to X-ray absorption, images show phase and dark-field contrast. Although the use of biopsy markers constitutes a fundamental task in breast examinations, there has not been any investigation concerning appropriate clips for this technology. We studied the suitability of three markers (Tumark, Somatex Medical Technologies; Hydromark, Mammotome; and Mammostar, Mammotome) for this modality on a laboratory source setup using a chicken breast phantom. The first two clips appeared to be innocuous, whereas Mammostar showed the potential that the non-metallic portion only could be used as a marker for this technique.