Initial investigation into lower-cost CT for resource limited regions of the world

James T. Dobbins III; Jered R. Wells; W. Paul Segars; Christina M. Li; Christopher J. N. Kigongo

doi:10.1117/12.844293

22 March 2010 Initial investigation into lower-cost CT for resource limited regions of the world

James T. Dobbins III, Jered R. Wells, W. Paul Segars, Christina M. Li, Christopher J. N. Kigongo

Proceedings Volume 7622, Medical Imaging 2010: Physics of Medical Imaging; 76223C (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.844293
Event: SPIE Medical Imaging, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

This paper describes an initial investigation into means for producing lower-cost CT scanners for resource limited regions of the world. In regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, intermediate level medical facilities serving millions have no CT machines, and lack the imaging resources necessary to determine whether certain patients would benefit from being transferred to a hospital in a larger city for further diagnostic workup or treatment. Low-cost CT scanners would potentially be of immense help to the healthcare system in such regions. Such scanners would not produce state-of-theart image quality, but rather would be intended primarily for triaging purposes to determine the patients who would benefit from transfer to larger hospitals. The lower-cost scanner investigated here consists of a fixed digital radiography system and a rotating patient stage. This paper describes initial experiments to determine if such a configuration is feasible. Experiments were conducted using (1) x-ray image acquisition, a physical anthropomorphic chest phantom, and a flat-panel detector system, and (2) a computer-simulated XCAT chest phantom. Both the physical phantom and simulated phantom produced excellent image quality reconstructions when the phantom was perfectly aligned during acquisition, but artifacts were noted when the phantom was displaced to simulate patient motion. An algorithm was developed to correct for motion of the phantom and demonstrated success in correcting for 5-mm motion during 360-degree acquisition of images. These experiments demonstrated feasibility for this approach, but additional work is required to determine the exact limitations produced by patient motion.

Citation Download Citation

James T. Dobbins III, Jered R. Wells, W. Paul Segars, Christina M. Li, and Christopher J. N. Kigongo "Initial investigation into lower-cost CT for resource limited regions of the world", Proc. SPIE 7622, Medical Imaging 2010: Physics of Medical Imaging, 76223C (22 March 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.844293

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available