High-performance soft-tissue imaging in extremity cone-beam CT

W. Zbijewski, A. Sisniega, J. W. Stayman, A. Muhit, G. Thawait, N. Packard, R. Senn, D. Yang, J. Yorkston, J. A. Carrino, J. H. Siewerdsen

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Purpose: Clinical performance studies of an extremity cone-beam CT (CBCT) system indicate excellent bone visualization, but point to the need for improvement of soft-tissue image quality. To this end, a rapid Monte Carlo (MC) scatter correction is proposed, and Penalized Likelihood (PL) reconstruction is evaluated for noise management. Methods: The accelerated MC scatter correction involved fast MC simulation with low number of photons implemented on a GPU (107 photons/sec), followed by Gaussian kernel smoothing in the detector plane and across projection angles. PL reconstructions were investigated for reduction of imaging dose for projections acquired at ~2 mGy. Results: The rapid scatter estimation yielded root-mean-squared-errors of scatter projections of ~15% of peak scatter intensity for 5â106 photons/projection (runtime ~0.5 sec/projection) and 25% improvement in fat-muscle contrast in reconstructions of a cadaveric knee. PL reconstruction largely restored soft-tissue visualization at 2 mGy dose to that of 10 mGy FBP image. Conclusion: The combination of rapid (5-10 minutes/scan) MC-based, patient-specific scatter correction and PL reconstruction offers an important means to overcome the current limitations of extremity CBCT in soft-tissue imaging.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationMedical Imaging 2014
Subtitle of host publicationPhysics of Medical Imaging
PublisherSPIE
ISBN (Print)9780819498267
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014
EventMedical Imaging 2014: Physics of Medical Imaging - San Diego, CA, United States
Duration: Feb 17 2014Feb 20 2014

Publication series

NameProgress in Biomedical Optics and Imaging - Proceedings of SPIE
Volume9033
ISSN (Print)1605-7422

Other

OtherMedical Imaging 2014: Physics of Medical Imaging
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Diego, CA
Period2/17/142/20/14

Keywords

  • Monte Carlo
  • cone-beam CT
  • extremities imaging
  • nonlinear reconstruction
  • scatter correction

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
  • Biomaterials

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