Abstract
We propose a pinhole-based fluorescent x-ray computed tomography (p-FXCT) system with a 2-D detector and volumetric beam that can suppress the quality deterioration caused by scatter components. In the corresponding p-FXCT technique, projections are acquired at individual incident energies just above and below the K-edge of the imaged trace element; then, reconstruction is performed based on the two sets of projections using a maximum likelihood expectation maximization algorithm that incorporates the scatter components. We constructed a p-FXCT imaging system and performed a preliminary experiment using a physical phantom and an I imaging agent. The proposed dual-energy p-FXCT improved the contrast-to-noise ratio by a factor of more than 2.5 compared to that attainable using mono-energetic p-FXCT for a 0.3 mg/ml I solution. We also imaged an excised rat’s liver infused with a Ba contrast agent to demonstrate the feasibility of imaging a biological sample.
Highlights
In size to the resolution, with the beams being applied sequentially
We recently proposed a pinhole-based Fluorescent x-ray computed tomography (FXCT) (p-FXCT) system with a 2-D detector and volumetric beam
We focused on the photoelectric absorption discontinuity that occurs at the K-edges of trace elements
Summary
In size to the resolution, with the beams being applied sequentially. the FXCT images of biomedical samples reported far have been 2-D. Some batch acquisition methods for use in FXCT imaging have been proposed; in these techniques, projections are acquired from sheet-like or volumetric beams using detector arrays with long parallel collimators in front of the detective elements[19,20]. We recently proposed a pinhole-based FXCT (p-FXCT) system with a 2-D detector and volumetric beam This system enables faster data acquisition by completely eliminating the need for translational scans, and the first 3-D FXCT image of a physical phantom was obtained using this system[21]. The purpose of this report is to propose and demonstrate a dual-energy p-FXCT imaging technique in which a low-energy-resolution 2-D detector is used and the K-edge discontinuities of trace elements are employed to correct for the deleterious effects of scatter components and improve the image quality. We imaged an ex vivo rat’s liver, which included a Ba imaging agent, to confirm that the proposed method could be used to reconstruct a biomedical sample in 3-D
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