Abstract
In K-edge decomposition imaging for the multienergy system with the photon counting detectors (PCDs), the energy bins significantly affect the intensity of the extracted K-edge signal. Optimized energy bins can provide a better K-edge signal to improve the quality of the decomposition images and have the potential to reduce the amount of contrast agents. In this article, we present the Gaussian spectrum selection method (GSSM) for the multienergy K-edge decomposition imaging which can extract an optimized K-edge signal by optimizing energy bins compared with the conventional theoretical attenuation selection method (TASM). GSSM decides the width and locations of the energy bins using a simple but effective model of the imaging system, which takes the degraded energy resolution of the detector and the continuous x-ray spectrum into consideration. Besides, we establish the objective function, difference of attenuation to relative standard deviation ratio (DAR), to determine the optimal energy bins which maximize the K-edge signal. The results show that GSSM gets a better K-edge signal than TASM especially at the lower concentration level of contrast agents. The new method has the potential to improve the contrast and reduce the amount of contrast agents.
Highlights
K-edge decomposition imaging has remarkable potential in some clinical applications like the x-ray oncology imaging for the breast and the abdomen [1, 2]
We propose the Gaussian spectrum selection method (GSSM) for multienergy imaging to increase the intensity of K-edge signal
The results of GSSM are consistent on energy with the measured results; the errors of the extreme points are less than 3%
Summary
K-edge decomposition imaging has remarkable potential in some clinical applications like the x-ray oncology imaging for the breast and the abdomen [1, 2]. The K-edge decomposition imaging is commonly realized using traditional dual-energy devices [3, 4]. There are four types of devices for dual-energy imaging: the sequence scan device, the dual-source device [5], the dual-layer detector device [6], and the fast kVp switching device [7]. The sequence scan device requires double exposures which increase the motion artifacts [8]. The dual-source device has a much more complex system and the images obtained have different phases. The dual-layer detector device can obtain images at the same phase in one exposure, but its energy resolution performance is relatively weak which goes against the quality of resulting images. The fast kVp switching device has a higher requirement of the imaging system and still has the problem of phase-matching. The energy mixing of the photons weakens the K-edge signal [9]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
