Spectral optimization using fast kV switching and filtration for photon counting CT with realistic detector responses: a simulation study

Sen Wang; Yirong Yang; Debashish Pal; Zhye Yin; Jonathan S. Maltz; Norbert J. Pelc; Adam S. Wang

doi:10.1117/1.JMI.11.S1.S12805

25 July 2024 Spectral optimization using fast kV switching and filtration for photon counting CT with realistic detector responses: a simulation study

Sen Wang, Yirong Yang, Debashish Pal, Zhye Yin, Jonathan S. Maltz, Norbert J. Pelc, Adam S. Wang

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Medical Imaging, Vol. 11, Issue S1, S12805 (July 2024). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMI.11.S1.S12805

Abstract

Purpose

Photon counting CT (PCCT) provides spectral measurements for material decomposition. However, the image noise (at a fixed dose) depends on the source spectrum. Our study investigates the potential benefits from spectral optimization using fast kV switching and filtration to reduce noise in material decomposition.

Approach

The effect of the input spectra on noise performance in both two-basis material decomposition and three-basis material decomposition was compared using Cramer-Rao lower bound analysis in the projection domain and in a digital phantom study in the image domain. The fluences of different spectra were normalized using the CT dose index to maintain constant dose levels. Four detector response models based on Si or CdTe were included in the analysis.

Results

For single kV scans, kV selection can be optimized based on the imaging task and object size. Furthermore, our results suggest that noise in material decomposition can be substantially reduced with fast kV switching. For two-material decomposition, fast kV switching reduces the standard deviation (SD) by ∼10%. For three-material decomposition, greater noise reduction in material images was found with fast kV switching (26.2% for calcium and 25.8% for iodine, in terms of SD), which suggests that challenging tasks benefit more from the richer spectral information provided by fast kV switching.

Conclusions

The performance of PCCT in material decomposition can be improved by optimizing source spectrum settings. Task-specific tube voltages can be selected for single kV scans. Also, our results demonstrate that utilizing fast kV switching can substantially reduce the noise in material decomposition for both two- and three-material decompositions, and a fixed Gd filter can further enhance such improvements for two-material decomposition.

Citation Download Citation

Sen Wang, Yirong Yang, Debashish Pal, Zhye Yin, Jonathan S. Maltz, Norbert J. Pelc, and Adam S. Wang "Spectral optimization using fast kV switching and filtration for photon counting CT with realistic detector responses: a simulation study," Journal of Medical Imaging 11(S1), S12805 (25 July 2024). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMI.11.S1.S12805

Received: 14 April 2023; Accepted: 8 July 2024; Published: 25 July 2024

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KEYWORDS

Fast packet switching

Tunable filters

Sensors

Calcium

Optical filters

Iodine

Gadolinium

Purpose

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