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Dual-energy contrast-enhanced digital mammography (CEDM) has been used to decompose breast images and improve diagnostic accuracy for tumor detection. However, this technique causes an increase of radiation dose and an inaccuracy in material decomposition due to the limitations of conventional X-ray detectors. In this study, we simulated the dual-energy CEDM with an energy-resolved photon-counting detector (ERPCD) for reducing radiation dose and improving the quantitative accuracy of material decomposition images. The ERPCD-based dual-energy CEDM was compared to the conventional dual-energy CEDM in terms of radiation dose and quantitative accuracy. The correlation between radiation dose and image quality was also evaluated for optimizing the ERPCD-based dual-energy CEDM technique. The results showed that the material decomposition errors of the ERPCD-based dual-energy CEDM were 0.56–0.67 times lower than those of the conventional dual-energy CEDM. The imaging performance of the proposed technique was optimized at the radiation dose of 1.09 mGy, which is a half of the MGD for a single view mammogram. It can be concluded that the ERPCD-based dual-energy CEDM with an optimal exposure level is able to improve the quality of material decomposition images as well as reduce radiation dose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photon-counting detectors allow spectral computed tomography (CT) imaging using energy-resolved information from a polychromatic X-ray spectrum. The spectral CT images based on the photon-counting detectors are dependent on the energy ranges defined by energy bins for image acquisition. In this study, K-edge and energy weighting imaging methods were experimentally implemented by using a spectral CT system with a cadmium zinc telluride (CZT)-based photon-counting detector. The spectral CT images were obtained by various energy bins and compared in terms of CNR improvement for investigating the effect of energy bins and the efficiency of the spectral CT imaging methods. The results showed that the spectral CT image quality was improved by using the particular energy bins, which were optimized for each spectral CT imaging method and target material. The CNR improvement was different for the spectral CT imaging methods and target materials. It can be concluded that an appropriate selection of imaging method for each target material and the optimization of energy bin can maximize the quality of spectral CT images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to improve the spatial resolution for the x-ray computed tomography (CT) imaging with a photon-counting detector using an irregular sampling method. The geometric shift-model of detector was proposed to produce the irregular sampling pattern and increase the number of samplings in the radial direction. The conventional micro-x-ray CT system and the novel system with the geometric shift-model of detector were simulated using analytic and Monte Carlo simulations. The projections were reconstructed using filtered back-projection (FBP), algebraic reconstruction technique (ART), and total variation (TV) minimization algorithms, and the reconstructed images were compared in terms of normalized root-mean-square error (NRMSE), full-width at half-maximum (FWHM), and coefficient-of-variation (COV). The results showed that the image quality improved in the novel system with the geometric shift-model of detector, and the NRMSE, FWHM, and COV were lower for the images reconstructed using the TV minimization technique in the novel system with the geometric shift-model of detector. The irregular sampling method produced by the geometric shift-model of detector can improve the spatial resolution and reduce artifacts and noise for reconstructed images obtained from an x-ray CT system with a photon-counting detector. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Energy-integrating detectors (EIDs) are hard to reflect information of multi-energy X-rays due to its detection mechanism. On the other hand, photon-counting detectors (PCDs) are able to selectively acquire spectral information using energy thresholds. This characteristic of the PCDs allows the K-edge imaging technique, which is able to increase the contrast of high atomic number materials, such as iodine, gadolinium, and gold. Especially, the characteristics of gold can provide benefits for clinical applications because gold has minimal toxicity and a high K-edge absorption energy of 80.7 keV. In this study, a spectral CT system using a cadmium zinc telluride (CZT)-based PCD was designed by a Monte Carlo simulation tool. Phantoms were simulated to obtain gold K-edge and conventional CT images, and different reconstruction filters were used for investigating the noise property. The obtained images were evaluated by measuring contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRs). The results of this study showed that the CNRs of gold K-edge CT images were higher than those of conventional CT images, and a noise suppression filter improved the CNRs of gold K-edge CT images. It was concluded that gold has a high performance as a contrast agent, and the gold K-edge CT imaging enable the excellent material decomposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]