Image reconstruction method and X-ray CT apparatus

• US 20030063786A1
• Filed: 09/16/2002
• Published: 04/03/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Medical Systems Global Technology Company LLC (GE Healthcare Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: GE Medical Systems Global Technology Company LLC (GE Healthcare Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Nishide, Akihiko
• Granted Patent: US 7,099,503 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/131
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5258 involving detection or reduction of artifacts or noise
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/006 Inverse problem, transformation from projection-space into object-space, e.g. transform methods, back-projection, algebraic methods

Abstract

For the purpose of reducing artifacts caused by a scan plane tilted with respect to a rotation plane when a multi-row detector is employed, a j-th detector row which an X-ray passing through a pixel point g(x, y) enters is selected based on the distance Δz from a scan center plane to an image reconstruction plane in a z-axis direction and the position (x, y) of the pixel point g in the image reconstruction plane, and data of the j-th detector row is used to determine the pixel value of the pixel point g, where the scan center plane at a certain view angle is defined as an x-y plane, and a direction normal to the x-y plane, i.e., a detector row direction, is defined as the z-axis direction.

Claims

1. An image reconstruction method for reconstructing an image of a specified image reconstruction plane based on data collected at different view angles while rotating at least one of an X-ray tube and a multi-row detector having first—

J-th (J≧

2) detector rows around a center of rotation, comprising the steps of;

selecting a detector row which an X-ray passing through a pixel point g(x, y) enters based on a distance Δ

z from a scan center plane to an image reconstruction plane in a z-axis direction and a position (x, y) of the pixel point g in the image reconstruction plane; and

using data of said detector row to determine a pixel value of said pixel point g, where the scan center plane at a certain view angle is defined as an x-y plane, and a direction normal to said x-y plane, i.e., a detector row direction, is defined as the z-axis direction.

2. The image reconstruction method of claim 1, comprising the step of selecting a j-th detector row determined by:

3. The image reconstruction method of claim 2, comprising the steps of:

selecting the j-th detector row and a proximate detector row; and

using data obtained by performing an interpolation operation on data of the selected detector rows.

4. The image reconstruction method of claim 3, comprising the steps of:

selecting the j-th detector row and a (j−

1)-th or (j+1)-th detector row; and

using data obtained by performing a linear interpolation operation on data of the selected detector rows.

5. The image reconstruction method of claim 2, comprising the step of making j=J when j>

1, and making j=1 when j<

1.

6. The image reconstruction method of claim 1, comprising the step of changing the distance Δ

z from the scan center plane to the image reconstruction plane in the z-axis direction according to the view angle in helical scanning.

7. The image reconstruction method of claim 1, comprising the steps of:

applying a weight inversely proportional to {(D+s)²+t²} to data of the selected detector rows for each view angle; and

adding the weighted data to determine the pixel value of the pixel point g, where the distance from the X-ray tube to the center of rotation is represented by D, the distance from the foot of the perpendicular dropped from the pixel point g toward the center axis Bc of the X-ray beam, to the center of rotation is represented by s, and the length of the perpendicular dropped from the pixel point g toward the center axis Bc of the X-ray beam is represented by t.

8. The image reconstruction method of claim 1, comprising the step of selecting a channel from which the data for use in determining the pixel value of said pixel point g is obtained, based on the view angle and the position (x, y) of the pixel point g in the image reconstruction plane.

9. An X-ray CT apparatus comprising:

an X-ray tube;

a multi-row detector having first—

J-th (J≧

2) detector rows;

a data collecting device for collecting data at different view angles while rotating at least one of said X-ray tube and said multi-row detector around a center of rotation;

a detector row selecting device for selecting a detector row which an X-ray passing through a pixel point g(x, y) enters based on a distance Δ

z from a scan center plane to a specified image reconstruction plane in a z-axis direction and a position (x, y) of the pixel point g in the image reconstruction plane, where the scan center plane at a certain view angle is defined as an x-y plane, and a direction normal to said x-y plane, i.e., a detector row direction, is defined as the z-axis direction; and

an image producing device for reconstructing an image of the image reconstruction plane by adding data of the selected detector row for each view angle to determine a pixel value of said pixel point g.

10. The X-ray CT apparatus of claim 9, wherein said detector row selecting device selects a j-th detector row determined by:

11. The X-ray CT apparatus of claim 10, wherein said detector row selecting device makes j=J when j>

1, and makes j=1 when j<

1.

12. The X-ray CT apparatus of claim 10, wherein said detector row selecting device selects the j-th detector row and a proximate detector row, and said image producing device uses data obtained by performing an interpolation operation on data of the selected detector rows.

13. The X-ray CT apparatus of claim 12, wherein said detector row selecting device selects the j-th detector row and a (j−

1)-th or (j+1)-th detector row, and said image producing device uses data obtained by performing a linear interpolation operation on data of the selected detector rows.

14. The X-ray CT apparatus of claim 9, wherein said detector row selecting device changes the distance Δ

z from the scan center plane to the image reconstruction plane in the z-axis direction according to the view angle in helical scanning.

15. The X-ray CT apparatus of claim 9, wherein said image producing device applies a weight inversely proportional to {(D+s)²+t²} to the data of the selected detector rows for each view angle, and adds the weighted data to determine the pixel value of the pixel point g, where the distance from the X-ray tube to the center of rotation is represented by D, the distance from the foot of the perpendicular dropped from the pixel point g toward the center axis Bc of the X-ray beam, to the center of rotation is represented by s, and the length of the perpendicular dropped from the pixel point g toward the center axis Bc of the X-ray beam is represented by t.

16. The X-ray CT apparatus of claim 9, further comprising a channel selecting device for selecting a channel from which the data for use in determining the pixel value of said pixel point g is obtained, based on the view angle and the position (x, y) of the pixel point g in the image reconstruction plane.