APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR TWO-VIEW TOMOSYNTHESIS IMAGING

• US 20110058724A1
• Filed: 09/08/2009
• Published: 03/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Claus, Bernhard Erich Hermann
• Granted Patent: US 8,798,353 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/132
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/025 Tomosynthesis
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/006 Inverse problem, transformation from projection-space into object-space, e.g. transform methods, back-projection, algebraic methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2211/436 Limited angle

Abstract

The invention is a directed to an apparatus for tomosynthesis imaging, wherein the apparatus comprises an x-ray source configured to irradiate an object with a beam of x-rays and a detector configured to detect the x-ray beam that passes through the object. The apparatus further comprises a computer programmed to perform a scan, wherein the scan comprises a translation of at least one of the x-ray source and the detector along a path, an acquisition of a tomosynthesis image dataset, and a reconstruction of one or more three-dimensional (3D) volumes adapted to one or more predetermined view directions, wherein at least one of the one or more predetermined view directions is aligned outside of a central view direction.

Claims

1. An apparatus for tomosynthesis imaging comprising:

an x-ray source configured to irradiate an object with a beam of x-rays;

a detector configured to detect the x-ray beam that passes through the object; and

a computer programmed to;

perform a scan, the scan comprising;

a translation of at least one of the x-ray source and the detector along a path;

an acquisition of a tomosynthesis image dataset; and

a reconstruction of one or more three-dimensional (3D) volumes adapted to one or more predetermined view directions, wherein at least one of the one or more predetermined view directions is aligned outside of a central view direction.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein imaging parameters of the scan are adapted based on an orientation of the one or more predetermined view directions.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the imaging parameters comprise at least one of projection angles, dose-per-angle, x-ray source speed during acquisition, image resolution, and field-of-view.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein two or more view directions are used and wherein two of the two or more predetermined view directions are near projection angles at respective ends of the path.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the two of the two or more predetermined view directions are separated by one of 30 degrees, 45 degrees, and 60 degrees.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one of the one or more predetermined view directions are selected either manually by a user or automatically by the computer.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein projection angles of the tomosynthesis dataset closer to the at least one of the one or more predetermined view directions are more densely sampled than projection angles farther away from the at least one of the one or more predetermined view directions.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one of an x-ray dose-per-projection is lower, an image resolution is lower, and an x-ray source speed is higher at projection angles of the tomosynthesis dataset closer to the at least one of the one or more predetermined view directions than at projection angles farther away from the at least one of the one or more predetermined view directions.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the apparatus further comprises a curved holder for immobilizing the object.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein slice positions in each of the one or more 3D volumes are oriented to be substantially orthogonal to the respective predetermined view directions.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the computer is further programmed to display at least one image corresponding to at least one of the one or more 3D volumes, and wherein a point location in a first 3D volume is displayed and highlighted based on a selection of a corresponding point location in a second 3D volume.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein slice positions in each of the one or more 3D volumes are oriented relative to a common 3D coordinate system.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the computer is further programmed to display at least one image corresponding to two or more 3D volumes, wherein corresponding slices in at least two of the two or more 3D volumes are displayed simultaneously.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the one or more 3D volumes are adapted to the one or more predetermined view directions by post-filtering using a single reconstructed 3D dataset.

15. A method of forming three-dimensional images of an object, the method comprising:

irradiating an object with a beam of x-rays at a plurality of positions along a path, wherein the beam of x-rays is emitted from an x-ray source;

acquiring a tomosynthesis image dataset based on x-rays detected by an x-ray detector; and

reconstructing one or more three-dimensional (3D) volumes from the tomosynthesis image dataset, wherein the reconstructing of the one or more 3D volumes is adapted to one or more predetermined view directions, and wherein at least one of the one or more predetermined view directions is aligned outside of a central view direction.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising optimizing the reconstruction of the one or more 3D volumes based on an orientation of the one or more predetermined view directions.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising adjusting imaging parameters based on an orientation of the one or more predetermined view directions, wherein the imaging parameters comprise at least one of projection angles, dose-per-angle, x-ray source speed during acquisition, image resolution, and field-of-view.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the reconstruction of the one or more 3D volumes uses one of filtered backprojection (FBP), generalized filtered backprojection (GFPB), maximum likelihood (ML-EM), algebraic reconstruction technique (ART), direct algebraic reconstruction technique (DART), and matrix inversion tomosynthesis (MITS).

19. The method of claim 15 wherein the reconstruction of at least one of the one or more 3D volumes is based on a subset of the tomosynthesis image dataset corresponding to projection angles proximate to the at least one of the one or more predetermined view directions, and wherein another subset of the tomosynthesis image dataset corresponding to projection angles farther from the at least one of the one or more predetermined view directions are discarded.

20. The method of claim 15 further comprising viewing the reconstructed one or more 3D volumes, wherein the one or more 3D volumes are viewed in one of a slice-by-slice mode or as a volume rendering.

21. A tomosynthesis imaging system for forming three-dimensional images of an object, the system comprising:

an x-ray source configured to irradiate an object with x-rays;

an x-ray detector positioned relative to the x-ray source to detect x-rays transmitted by the x-ray source; and

a computer programmed to;

translate one of the x-ray source and the x-ray detector during a scan such that one of the x-ray source and the x-ray detector travels along a path with respect to an object to be imaged;

acquire a tomosynthesis image dataset; and

reconstruct one or more three-dimensional (3D) volumes from the acquired tomosynthesis image dataset, wherein the one or more 3D volumes correspond to one or more predetermined view directions, and wherein at least one of the one or more predetermined view directions is oriented outside of a central view direction.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the computer is further programmed to alter imaging parameters based on an orientation of at least one of the one or more predetermined view directions.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the imaging parameters comprise at least one of projection angles, dose-per-angle, x-ray source speed during acquisition, image resolution, and field-of-view 24. The system of claim 21 further comprising at least one curved object support, wherein the at least one curved object support is configured to support the object to be imaged.