Strip Photon-counting Detector Research Articles

Development of an Integrated C-Arm Interventional Imaging System With a Strip Photon Counting Detector and a Flat Panel Detector.

Modern interventional x-ray systems are often equipped with flat-panel detector-based cone-beam CT (FPD-CBCT) to provide tomographic, volumetric, and high spatial resolution imaging of interventional devices, iodinated vessels, and other objects. The purpose of this work was to bring an interchangeable strip photon-counting detector (PCD) to C-arm systems to supplement (instead of retiring) the existing FPD-CBCT with a high quality, spectral, and affordable PCD-CT imaging option. With minimal modification to the existing C-arm, a 51×0.6 cm2 PCD with a 0.75 mm CdTe layer, two energy thresholds, and 0.1 mm pixels was integrated with a Siemens Artis Zee interventional imaging system. The PCD can be translated in and out of the field-of-view to allow the system to switch between FPD and PCD-CT imaging modes. A dedicated phantom and a new algorithm were developed to calibrate the projection geometry of the narrow-beam PCD-CT system and correct the gantry wobbling-induced geometric distortion artifacts. In addition, a detector response calibration procedure was performed for each PCD pixel using materials with known radiological pathlengths to address concentric artifacts in PCD-CT images. Both phantom and human cadaver experiments were performed at a high gantry rotation speed and clinically relevant radiation dose level to evaluate the spectral and non-spectral imaging performance of the prototype system. Results show that the PCD-CT system has excellent image quality with negligible artifacts after the proposed corrections. Compared with FPD-CBCT images acquired at the same dose level, PCD-CT images demonstrated a 53% reduction in noise variance and additional quantitative imaging capability.

Identification of amyloid plaques in the brain using an x-ray photon-counting strip detector.

Brain aggregates of β amyloid (βA) protein plaques have been widely recognized as associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, and their identification can assist in the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. We investigate the feasibility of using a spectral x-ray coherent scatter system with a silicon strip photon-counting detector for identifying brain βA protein plaques. This approach is based on differences in the structure of amyloid, white and grey matter in the brain. We simulated an energy- and angular-dispersive X-ray diffraction system with an x-ray pencil beam and Silicon strip sensor, energy-resolving detectors. The polychromatic beam is geometrically focused toward a region of interest in the brain. First, the open-source MC-GPU code for Monte Carlo transport was modified to accommodate the detector model. Second, brain phantoms with and without βA were simulated to assess the method and determine the radiation dose required to obtain acceptable statistical power. For βA targets of 3, 4 and 5 mm sizes in a 15-cm brain model, the required incident exposure was about 0.44 mR from a 60 kVp tungsten spectrum and 3.5 mm of added aluminum filtration. The results suggest that the proposed x-ray coherent scatter technique enables the use of high energy x-ray spectra and therefore has the potential to be used for accurate in vivo detection and quantification of βA in the brain within acceptable radiation dose levels.

Calibration phantoms for accurate water and lipid density quantification using dual energy mammography

The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of water and lipid as calibration phantoms for accurate dual energy breast density quantification. Dual energy calibration was performed on a mammography system based on scanning multi-slit Si strip photon-counting detectors using plastic water and adipose-equivalent phantoms as the basis materials. Two different methods were used to convert the dual energy decomposition measurements in plastic phantom thicknesses into the true water and lipid basis materials. The first method was based entirely on the theoretically calculated effective attenuation coefficients of the investigated materials in the mammographic energy range. The conversion matrix was determined through the linear least-squares fitting of the target material using the calculated effective attenuation coefficients of water and lipid. The second method was based on experimental calibration with plastic water phantom, adipose-equivalent phantom, and its correlation to known water and lipid thicknesses. These two methods were then validated by using an independent measurement of water and lipid mixture phantoms and postmortem breasts. The correlation between the dual energy decomposition measurements and the known values was evaluated using linear regression analysis. The averaged root-mean-square errors for water density quantification derived from the theoretical and experimental conversions were 8.6% and 1.6%, respectively. The postmortem breast tissue study also indicates that the experimentally acquired conversion coefficient improved the accuracy in water density quantification, in comparison with that from the theoretical conversion. The results show that conversion of the dual energy measurements into water and lipid thicknesses improves the accuracy in breast tissue decomposition.

SU-D-204-01: Dual-Energy Calibration for Breast Density Measurement Using Spectral Mammography

Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of minimizing the systematic errors in dual-energy breast density quantification induced by the use of tissue-equivalent plastic phantoms as the calibration basis materials. Methods: Dual-energy calibration using tissue-equivalent plastic phantoms was performed on a spectral mammography system based on scanning multi-slit Si strip photon-counting detectors. The plastic phantom calibration used plastic water and adipose-equivalent phantoms as the basis materials, which have different x-ray attenuation properties compared to water and lipid in actual breast tissue. Two methods were used to convert the dual-energy decomposition measurements in plastic phantom thicknesses into true water and lipid basis. The first method was based entirely on the theoretical x-ray attenuation coefficients of the investigated materials in the mammographic energy range. The conversion matrix was determined from least-squares fitting of the target material using the reported attenuation coefficients of water and lipid. The second method was developed based on experimental calibrations, which measured the low-and high-energy signals of pure water and lipid of known thicknesses. A non-linear rational function was used to correlate the decomposed thicknesses to the known values, so that the conversion coefficients can be determined. Both methods were validated using independent measurements of water and lipid mixture phantoms. The correlation of the dual-energy decomposition measurements and the known values were studied with linear regression analysis. Results: There was an excellent linear correlation between the converted water thicknesses and the known values. The slopes of the linear fits were determined to be 0.63 and 1.03 for the simulation and experimental results, respectively. The non-linear fitting in the experimental approach reduced the root-mean-square (RMS) errors from approximately 3.4 mm to 1.5 mm. Conclusion: The results suggested that conversion of the dual-energy measurements into water and lipid thicknesses minimized the systematic errors in tissue decomposition studies.

Characterization of energy response for photon-counting detectors using x-ray fluorescence.

To investigate the feasibility of characterizing a Si strip photon-counting detector using x-ray fluorescence. X-ray fluorescence was generated by using a pencil beam from a tungsten anode x-ray tube with 2 mm Al filtration. Spectra were acquired at 90° from the primary beam direction with an energy-resolved photon-counting detector based on an edge illuminated Si strip detector. The distances from the source to target and the target to detector were approximately 19 and 11 cm, respectively. Four different materials, containing silver (Ag), iodine (I), barium (Ba), and gadolinium (Gd), were placed in small plastic containers with a diameter of approximately 0.7 cm for x-ray fluorescence measurements. Linear regression analysis was performed to derive the gain and offset values for the correlation between the measured fluorescence peak center and the known fluorescence energies. The energy resolutions and charge-sharing fractions were also obtained from analytical fittings of the recorded fluorescence spectra. An analytical model, which employed four parameters that can be determined from the fluorescence calibration, was used to estimate the detector response function. Strong fluorescence signals of all four target materials were recorded with the investigated geometry for the Si strip detector. The average gain and offset of all pixels for detector energy calibration were determined to be 6.95 mV/keV and -66.33 mV, respectively. The detector's energy resolution remained at approximately 2.7 keV for low energies, and increased slightly at 45 keV. The average charge-sharing fraction was estimated to be 36% within the investigated energy range of 20-45 keV. The simulated detector output based on the proposed response function agreed well with the experimental measurement. The performance of a spectral imaging system using energy-resolved photon-counting detectors is very dependent on the energy calibration of the detector. The proposed x-ray fluorescence technique offers an accurate and efficient way to calibrate the energy response of a photon-counting detector.

A high-resolution photon-counting breast CT system with tensor-framelet based iterative image reconstruction for radiation dose reduction

Both computer simulations and experimental phantom studies were carried out to investigate the radiation dose reduction with tensor framelet based iterative image reconstruction (TFIR) for a dedicated high-resolution spectral breast computed tomography (CT) based on a silicon strip photon-counting detector. The simulation was performed with a 10 cm-diameter water phantom including three contrast materials (polyethylene, 8 mg ml−1 iodine and B-100 bone-equivalent plastic). In the experimental study, the data were acquired with a 1.3 cm-diameter polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) phantom containing iodine in three concentrations (8, 16 and 32 mg ml−1) at various radiation doses (1.2, 2.4 and 3.6 mGy) and then CT images were reconstructed using the filtered-back-projection (FBP) technique and the TFIR technique, respectively. The image quality between these two techniques was evaluated by the quantitative analysis on contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and spatial resolution that was evaluated using the task-based modulation transfer function (MTF). Both the simulation and experimental results indicated that the task-based MTF obtained from TFIR reconstruction with one-third of the radiation dose was comparable to that from the FBP reconstruction for low contrast target. For high contrast target, the TFIR was substantially superior to the FBP reconstruction in terms of spatial resolution. In addition, TFIR was able to achieve a factor of 1.6–1.8 increase in CNR, depending on the target contrast level. This study demonstrates that the TFIR can reduce the required radiation dose by a factor of two-thirds for a CT image reconstruction compared to the FBP technique. It achieves much better CNR and spatial resolution for high contrast target in addition to retaining similar spatial resolution for low contrast target. This TFIR technique has been implemented with a graphic processing unit system and it takes approximately 10 s to reconstruct a single-slice CT image, which can potentially be used in a future multi-slit multi-slice spiral CT system.

TU-F-18C-08: Micro-Calcification Detectability Using Spectral Breast CT Based On a Si Strip Detector

Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of micro-calcification (μCa) detectability by using an energy-resolved photon-counting Si strip detector for spectral breast computed tomography (CT). Methods: A bench-top CT system was constructed using a tungsten anode x-ray source with a focal spot size of 0.8 mm and a single line 256-pixel Si strip photon counting detector with a pixel pitch of 100 μm. The slice thickness was 0.5 mm. Five different size groups of calcium carbonate grains, from 105 to 215 μm in diameter, were embedded in a cylindrical resin phantom with a diameter of 16 mm to simulate μCas. The phantoms were imaged at 65 kVp with an Entrance Skin Air Kerma (ESAK) of 1.2, 3, 6, and 8 mGy. The images were reconstructed using a standard filtered back projection (FBP) with a ramp filter. A total of 200 μCa images (5 different sizes of μCas × 4 different doses × 10 images for each setting) were combined with another 200 control images without μCas, to ultimately form 400 images for the reader study. The images were displayed in random order to three blinded observers, who were asked to give a binary score on each image regarding the presence of μCas.more » The μCa detectability for each image was evaluated in terms of binary decision theory metrics. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were calculated to study the size and dose-dependence for μCa detectability. Additionally, the influence of the partial volume effect on the μCa detectability was investigated by simulation. Results: For a μCa larger than 140 μm in diameter, detection accuracy of above 90 % was achieved with the investigated prototype spectral CT system at ESAK of 1.2 mGy. Conclusion: The proposed Si strip detector is expected to offer superior image quality with the capability to detect μCas for low dose breast imaging.« less

TU-F-18A-05: An X-Ray Fluorescence Technique for Energy Calibration of Photon-Counting Detectors

Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of energy response calibration of a Si strip photon-counting detector by using the x-ray fluorescence technique. Methods: X-ray fluorescence was generated by using a pencil beam from a tungsten anode x-ray tube with 2 mm Al filtration. Spectra were acquired at 90° from the primary beam direction with an energy-resolved photon-counting detector based on Si strips. The distances from the source to target and the target to detector were approximately 19 and 11 cm, respectively. Four different materials, containing Ag, I, Ba, and Gd, were placed in small plastic aliquots with a diameter of approximately 0.7 cm for x-ray fluorescence measurements. Linear regression analysis was performed to derive the gain and offset values for the correlation between the measured fluorescence peak center and the known energies for materials. The energy resolution was derived from the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the fluorescence peaks. In addition, the angular dependence of the recorded fluorescence spectra was studied at 30°, 60°, and 120°. Results: Strong fluorescence signals of all four target materials were recorded with the investigated geometry for the Si strip detector. The recorded pulse height was calibrated with respect to photon energy and themore » gain and offset values were calculated to be 7.0 mV/keV and −69.3 mV, respectively. Negligible variation in energy calibration was observed among the four energy thresholds. The variation among different pixels was estimated to be approximately 1 keV. The energy resolution of the detector was estimated to be 7.9% within the investigated energy range. Conclusion: The performance of a spectral imaging system using energy-resolved photon-counting detectors is very dependent on the energy calibration of the detector. The proposed x-ray fluorescence technique provides an accurate and efficient way to calibrate the energy response of a photon-counting detector.« less

X-ray response of germanium microstrip detectors with energy and position resolution

Germanium diode microstrip arrays offer position-sensitive detection of X-rays combined with energy resolution over the range 5–100 keV. As part of a programme to develop a 300 strip photon-counting detector for Compton scattering experiments at the ESRF, we describe the design of a system permitting multiple high-density connections to cryogenically cooled detectors. We report on measurements made on two germanium microstrip strip detectors with ≈200 μm pitch fabricated using different process technologies. The position resolution and spectral energy response of these detectors has been characterised using a 15 μm wide scanning beam of monochromatic synchrotron X-rays at energies 15–100 keV. The raw data is dramatically improved by reconstruction of split-charge events arising from X-rays absorbed between contact strips, and energy spectra are obtained with peak/valley ratios >2000.