Program Information

Clinical Evaluation of CT Image Reconstructed Using Interior Tomography

G Ge

J Zhang¹ , G Ge²*, M Winkler³ , W Cong⁴ , G Wang⁵ , (1) University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, (2) University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, (3) University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, (4) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, (5) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY

Presentations

SU-E-I-73 Sunday 3:00PM - 6:00PM Room: Exhibit Hall

Purpose: Radiation dose reduction has been a long standing challenge in CT imaging of obese patients. Recent advances in interior tomography (reconstruction of an interior region of interest (ROI) from line integrals associated with only paths through the ROI) promise to achieve significant radiation dose reduction without compromising image quality. This study is to investigate the application of this technique in CT imaging through evaluating imaging quality reconstructed from patient data.

Methods:Projection data were directly obtained from patients who had CT examinations in a Dual Source CT scanner (DSCT). Two detectors in a DSCT acquired projection data simultaneously. One detector provided projection data for full field of view (FOV, 50 cm) while another detectors provided truncated projection data for a FOV of 26 cm. Full FOV CT images were reconstructed using both filtered back projection and iterative algorithm; while interior tomography algorithm was implemented to reconstruct ROI images. For comparison reason, FBP was also used to reconstruct ROI images. Reconstructed CT images were evaluated by radiologists and compared with images from CT scanner.

Results:The results show that the reconstructed ROI image was in excellent agreement with the truth inside the ROI, obtained from images from CT scanner, and the detailed features in the ROI were quantitatively accurate. Radiologists evaluation shows that CT images reconstructed with interior tomography met diagnosis requirements. Radiation dose may be reduced up to 50% using interior tomography, depending on patient size.

Conclusion:This study shows that interior tomography can be readily employed in CT imaging for radiation dose reduction. It may be especially useful in imaging obese patients, whose subcutaneous tissue is less clinically relevant but may significantly increase radiation dose.


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