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L Spies

Publications and source records attributed to L Spies.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Characterization and correction of temporal artifacts in CT.

Image artifacts, caused by a temporally delayed response of a computed tomography (CT) detector, were investigated. To study its consequences, a computer model for a standard third generation CT scanner was devised and simulations were carried out. Resulting image artifacts were studied for various voxel-based and mathematical phantoms using three time constants, which characterize the delayed signal responses of different detector configurations. Furthermore, a theory was developed to understand temporal artifacts in reconstructed images. A filter function was derived, which compensates for temporal artifacts. For a given phantom, simulations and theory demonstrate that artifacts scale with the time constant, characteristic for the detector, and the angular speed of the scanner.

Algorithms↗
PubMed2001

Correction of scatter in megavoltage cone-beam CT.

The role of scatter in a cone-beam computed tomography system using the therapeutic beam of a medical linear accelerator and a commercial electronic portal imaging device (EPID) is investigated. A scatter correction method is presented which is based on a superposition of Monte Carlo generated scatter kernels. The kernels are adapted to both the spectral response of the EPID and the dimensions of the phantom being scanned. The method is part of a calibration procedure which converts the measured transmission data acquired for each projection angle into water-equivalent thicknesses. Tomographic reconstruction of the projections then yields an estimate of the electron density distribution of the phantom. It is found that scatter produces cupping artefacts in the reconstructed tomograms. Furthermore, reconstructed electron densities deviate greatly (by about 30%) from their expected values. The scatter correction method removes the cupping artefacts and decreases the deviations from 30% down to about 8%.

Artifacts↗
PubMed2001

An iterative algorithm for reconstructing incident beam distributions from transmission measurements using electronic portal imaging.

The problem of reconstructing incident radiotherapy beam profiles from electronic portal images recorded behind a phantom is addressed. To this end an iterative algorithm is presented, which is able to extract the input beam profile from a portal image by compensating for the attenuation of the beam and subtracting the amount of scatter emitted by the phantom. The algorithm requires only a thickness map of the phantom. Scatter is estimated using a superposition method based on precalculated Monte Carlo scatter kernels. The method is tested for a homogeneous water-equivalent slab phantom for simple rectangular and complex multileaf collimated fields. It is shown that the method produces a stable result within four iterations yielding an accuracy for the incident beam distribution of better than 3%.

Algorithms↗
PubMed2001

Analytical scatter kernels for portal imaging at 6 MV.

X-ray photon scatter kernels for 6 MV electronic portal imaging are investigated using an analytical and a semi-analytical model. The models are tested on homogeneous phantoms for a range of uniform circular fields and scatterer-to-detector air gaps relevant for clinical use. It is found that a fully analytical model based on an exact treatment of photons undergoing a single Compton scatter event and an approximate treatment of second and higher order scatter events, assuming a multiple-scatter source at the center of the scatter volume, is accurate within 1% (i.e., the residual scatter signal is less than 1% of the primary signal) for field sizes up to 100 cm2 and air gaps over 30 cm, but shows significant discrepancies for larger field sizes. Monte Carlo results are presented showing that the effective multiple-scatter source is located toward the exit surface of the scatterer, rather than at its center. A second model is therefore investigated where second and higher-order scattering is instead modeled by fitting an analytical function describing a nonstationary isotropic point-scatter source to Monte Carlo generated data. This second model is shown to be accurate to within 1% for air gaps down to 20 cm, for field sizes up to 900 cm2 and phantom thicknesses up to 50 cm.

Diagnostic Imaging↗
PubMed2000

Direct measurement and analytical modeling of scatter in portal imaging.

In this study a direct measurement of scatter in portal imaging for various air gaps and scatterer thicknesses at a beam energy of 6 MV is presented. The experimental data are compared with results from a Monte Carlo (MC) scatter model. In the regime where the air gap is larger than 9.3 cm the MC and the experiment agree. Based on this MC model an analytical model is developed, which takes all important interaction processes into account. It comprises a rigorous treatment of first order scattering and an estimation of photons scattered more than once within the phantom. This estimation is based on the assumption that higher order scattering can be considered as isotropically distributed around a certain scatter origin located in the midplane of the phantom. It is found that relative deviations between the MC model and the analytical model are of 2% to 3% in regions where scattering is very large.

Biophysical Phenomena↗
PubMed1998

Tomotherapeutic portal imaging for radiation treatment verification.

In their tomotherapy concept Mackie and co-workers proposed not only a new technique for IMRT but also an appropriate and satisfactory method of treatment verification. This method allows both monitoring of the portal dose distribution and imaging of the patient anatomy during treatment by means of online CT. This would enable the detection of inaccuracies in dose delivery and patient set-up errors. In this paper results are presented showing that a single electronic portal imaging device (EPID) could deliver all data necessary to establish such a complete verification system for tomotherapy and even other IMRT techniques. Consequently it has to be shown that it is able to record both the low-intensity photon fluences encountered in tomographic imaging and the intense photon transmission of each treatment field. The detector under investigation is a video-based EPID, the BIS 710 (manufactured by Wellhöfer Dosimetrie, Schwarzenbruck, Germany). To examine the suitability of the BIS for CT at 6 MV beam quality, different phantoms were scanned and reconstructed. The agreement between a diamond detector and BIS responses is quantitative. Tomographic reconstruction of a complete set of these transmission profiles resulted in images which resolve 3 cm large objects having a (theoretical) contrast to water of less than 9%. Three millimetre objects with a 100% contrast are clearly visible. The BIS signal was shown to measure photon fluence distributions. The reconstructed images possess a spatial and contrast resolution sufficient for accurate imaging of the patient anatomy, needed for treatment verification in many clinical cases.

Data Interpretation, Statistical↗