Tomosynthesis

[1] The concept of tomosynthesis was derived from the work of Ziedses des Plantes, who developed methods of reconstructing an arbitrary number of planes from a set of projections.

Digital tomosynthesis, on the other hand, only uses a limited rotation angle (e.g., 15-60 degrees) with a lower number of discrete exposures (e.g., 7-51) than CT.

This incomplete set of projections is digitally processed to yield images similar to conventional tomography with a limited depth of field.

[6] The benefit for screening has been debated,[7] but consensus is being reached that the technology is improving sensitivity compared to two-view digital mammography at the cost of a slightly reduced specificity (increased recall rates).

Tomosynthesis has a much more limited depth of field than does CT. For this reason, it likely will not be able to replace CT for the evaluation of the deeper organs of the body.

However, since bones are often near the skin, multiple musculoskeletal applications of tomosynthesis have been studied, most of which have mostly been used in research with limited use in everyday practice.