3D-guided CT reconstruction using time-of-flight camera

Abstract

We propose the use of a time-of-flight (TOF) camera to obtain the patient's body contour in 3D guided imaging reconstruction scheme in CT and C-arm imaging systems with truncated projection. In addition to pixel intensity, a TOF camera provides the 3D coordinates of each point in the captured scene with respect to the camera coordinates. Information from the TOF camera was used to obtain a digitized surface of the patient's body. The digitization points are transformed to X-Ray detector coordinates by registering the two coordinate systems. A set of points corresponding to the slice of interest are segmented to form a 2D contour of the body surface. Radon transform is applied to the contour to generate the 'trust region' for the projection data. The generated 'trust region' is integrated as an input to augment the projection data. It is used to estimate the truncated, unmeasured projections using linear interpolation. Finally the image is reconstructed using the combination of the estimated and the measured projection data. The proposed method is evaluated using a physical phantom. Projection data for the phantom were obtained using a C-arm system. Significant improvement in the reconstructed image quality near the truncation edges was observed using the proposed method as compared to that without truncation correction. This work shows that the proposed 3D guided CT image reconstruction using a TOF camera represents a feasible solution to the projection data truncation problem.