Impacts of photon counting CT to maximum intensity projection (MIP) images of cerebral CT angiography: theoretical and experimental studies.

Impacts of photon counting CT to maximum intensity projection (MIP) images of cerebral CT angiography: theoretical and experimental studies. Phys Med Biol. 2019 Jul 17;: Authors: Harvey E, Feng M, Ji X, Zhang R, Li Y, Chen GH, Li K Abstract While CTA is an established clinical gold standard for imaging large cerebral arteries and veins, an important challenge that currently remains for CTA is its limited performance in imaging small perforating arteries with diameters below 0.5 mm. The purpose of this work was to theoretically and experimentally study the potential benefits of using photon counting detector (PCD)-based CT (PCCT) to improve the performance of CTA in imaging these small arteries. In particular, the study focused on an important component of the CTA image package known as the maximum intensity projection (MIP) image. To help understand how the physical properties of a detector quantitatively influence the MIP image quality, a theoretical model on the statistical properties of MIP images was developed. After validating this model, it was used to explore the individual and joint contribution of the following detector properties to the MIP signal-to-noise ratio (SNR): inter-slice noise covariance, spatial resolution along the z direction, and native pixel pitch along $z$. The model demonstrated that superior slice sensitivity, reduced inter-slice noise correlation, and smaller native pixel pitch along $z$ provided by PCD l...
Source: Physics in Medicine and Biology - Category: Physics Authors: Tags: Phys Med Biol Source Type: research