Data handling and analysis in computed tomography with multiple energy windows

Abstract

An apparatus includes a computed tomography (CT) scanner (10), a reconstructor (46), a polychromatic corrector (50), a material classifier (54) and an image processor (60). The scanner provides spectral CT information. The reconstructor (46) reconstructs the data from the CT scanner (10) into a volume space. The material classifier (54) determines a material composition of locations in the volume space as a function of their location in an attenuation space. Information indicative of the material composition is presented on a display (62).

Description

Data processing and analysis in computed tomography with multiple energy windows technical field The present invention relates to the analysis of data generated by x-ray computed tomography (CT) and other systems for providing spectral information, and more particularly to the use of such systems to determine the material composition of an object under examination. It is particularly useful in medical imaging, but also in non-destructive testing and analysis, security applications, and other applications where the ability to disintegrate matter is useful. Background technique Computed tomography (CT) scanners generate images indicative of x-ray attenuation of an object being examined. The x-ray tubes employed in CT scanners typically produce x-rays with a single, relatively broad energy spectrum. Similarly, detectors employed in such systems typically provide limited, if any, information about the energy spectrum of the detected radiation. While these scanners provide va...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Although postprocessing techniques are generally simpler and more robust than preprocessing analysis, they are more sensitive to beam hardening effects

Also, the subtraction of the images of the two energy windows does not necessarily give the optimal solution

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