Roy A Nilsen | PubMed Health

PubMed2006

A three-dimensional-weighted cone beam filtered backprojection (CB-FBP) algorithm for image reconstruction in volumetric CT-helical scanning.

Based on the structure of the original helical FDK algorithm, a three-dimensional (3D)-weighted cone beam filtered backprojection (CB-FBP) algorithm is proposed for image reconstruction in volumetric CT under helical source trajectory. In addition to its dependence on view and fan angles, the 3D weighting utilizes the cone angle dependency of a ray to improve reconstruction accuracy. The 3D weighting is ray-dependent and the underlying mechanism is to give a favourable weight to the ray with the smaller cone angle out of a pair of conjugate rays but an unfavourable weight to the ray with the larger cone angle out of the conjugate ray pair. The proposed 3D-weighted helical CB-FBP reconstruction algorithm is implemented in the cone-parallel geometry that can improve noise uniformity and image generation speed significantly. Under the cone-parallel geometry, the filtering is naturally carried out along the tangential direction of the helical source trajectory. By exploring the 3D weighting's dependence on cone angle, the proposed helical 3D-weighted CB-FBP reconstruction algorithm can provide significantly improved reconstruction accuracy at moderate cone angle and high helical pitches. The 3D-weighted CB-FBP algorithm is experimentally evaluated by computer-simulated phantoms and phantoms scanned by a diagnostic volumetric CT system with a detector dimension of 64 x 0.625 mm over various helical pitches. The computer simulation study shows that the 3D weighting enables the proposed algorithm to reach reconstruction accuracy comparable to that of exact CB reconstruction algorithms, such as the Katsevich algorithm, under a moderate cone angle (4 degrees) and various helical pitches. Meanwhile, the experimental evaluation using the phantoms scanned by a volumetric CT system shows that the spatial resolution along the z-direction and noise characteristics of the proposed 3D-weighted helical CB-FBP reconstruction algorithm are maintained very well in comparison to the FDK-type algorithms. Moreover, the experimental evaluation by clinical data verifies that the proposed 3D-weighted CB-FBP algorithm for image reconstruction in volumetric CT under helical source trajectory meets the challenges posed by diagnostic applications of volumetric CT imaging.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2005

A three-dimensional weighted cone beam filtered backprojection (CB-FBP) algorithm for image reconstruction in volumetric CT under a circular source trajectory.

The original FDK algorithm proposed for cone beam (CB) image reconstruction under a circular source trajectory has been extensively employed in medical and industrial imaging applications. With increasing cone angle, CB artefacts in images reconstructed by the original FDK algorithm deteriorate, since the circular trajectory does not satisfy the so-called data sufficiency condition (DSC). A few 'circular plus' trajectories have been proposed in the past to help the original FDK algorithm to reduce CB artefacts by meeting the DSC. However, the circular trajectory has distinct advantages over other scanning trajectories in practical CT imaging, such as head imaging, breast imaging, cardiac, vascular and perfusion applications. In addition to looking into the DSC, another insight into the CB artefacts existing in the original FDK algorithm is the inconsistency between conjugate rays that are 180 degrees apart in view angle (namely conjugate ray inconsistency). The conjugate ray inconsistency is pixel dependent, varying dramatically over pixels within the image plane to be reconstructed. However, the original FDK algorithm treats all conjugate rays equally, resulting in CB artefacts that can be avoided if appropriate weighting strategies are exercised. Along with an experimental evaluation and verification, a three-dimensional (3D) weighted axial cone beam filtered backprojection (CB-FBP) algorithm is proposed in this paper for image reconstruction in volumetric CT under a circular source trajectory. Without extra trajectories supplemental to the circular trajectory, the proposed algorithm applies 3D weighting on projection data before 3D backprojection to reduce conjugate ray inconsistency by suppressing the contribution from one of the conjugate rays with a larger cone angle. Furthermore, the 3D weighting is dependent on the distance between the reconstruction plane and the central plane determined by the circular trajectory. The proposed 3D weighted axial CB-FBP algorithm can be implemented in either the native CB geometry or the so-called cone-parallel geometry. By taking the cone-parallel geometry as an example, the experimental evaluation shows that, up to a moderate cone angle corresponding to a detector dimension of 64 x 0.625 mm, the CB artefacts can be substantially suppressed by the proposed algorithm, while advantages of the original FDK algorithm, such as the filtered backprojection algorithm structure, 1D ramp filtering and data manipulation efficiency, are maintained.

Algorithms↗