Program Information

A Fast, Analytical Pencil Beam Based Method for First Order X-Ray Scatter Estimation of Kilovoltage Cone Beam X-Rays

J Liu

J Liu*, J Bourland , Wake Forest Univ, Winston-salem, NC

Presentations

SU-E-I-1 Sunday 3:00PM - 6:00PM Room: Exhibit Hall

Purpose:To analytically estimate first-order x-ray scatter for kV cone beam x-ray imaging with high computational efficiency.

Methods:In calculating first-order scatter using the Klein-Nishina formula, we found that by integrating the point-to-point scatter along an interaction line, a “pencil-beam” scatter kernel (BSK) can be approximated to a quartic expression when the imaging field is small. This BSK model for monoenergetic, 100keV x-rays has been verified on homogeneous cube and cylinder water phantoms by comparing with the exact implementation of KN formula. For heterogeneous medium, the water-equivalent length of a BSK was acquired with an improved Siddon’s ray-tracing algorithm, which was also used in calculating pre- and post- scattering attenuation. To include the electron binding effect for scattering of low-kV photons, the mean corresponding scattering angle is determined from the effective point of scattered photons of a BSK. The behavior of polyenergetic x-rays was also investigated for 120kV x-rays incident to a sandwiched infinite heterogeneous slab phantom, with the electron binding effect incorporated. Exact computation and Monte Carlo simulations were performed for comparisons, using the EGSnrc code package.

Results:By reducing the 3D volumetric target (o(n³)) to 2D pencil-beams (o(n²)), the computation expense can be generally lowered by n times, which our experience verifies. The scatter distribution on a flat detector shows high agreement between the analytic BSK model and exact calculations. The pixel-to-pixel differences are within (-2%, 2%) for the homogeneous cube and cylinder phantoms and within (0, 6%) for the heterogeneous slab phantom. However, the Monte Carlo simulation shows increased deviation of the BSK model toward detector periphery.

Conclusion:The proposed BSK model, accommodating polyenergetic x-rays and electron binding effect at low kV, shows great potential in efficiently estimating the first-order scatter from small imaging fields. We are investigating more thoroughly to improve performance and explore applications.


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