Method and system of CT data correction

• US 7,260,170 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2007
• Issued: 08/21/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Ruimi, David, Basu, Samit Kumar, Drapkin, Evgeny, De Man, Bruno K. B., Arenson, Jerome Stephen, Samsonov, Dmitry
• Primary Examiner(s): Song; Hoon
• Application Number:
  US11/627,144
• Publication Number:
  US 20070140409A1
• Time in Patent Office: 208 Days
• Field of Search: 378/4, 378/8, 378/13, 378/16, 378/19, 378/20, 378/901, 378/207
• US Class Current: 378/4
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/027 characterised by the use of a particular data acquisition trajectory, e.g. helical or spiral
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/032 Transmission computed tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4241 using energy resolving detectors, e.g. photon counting
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/482 involving multiple energy imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/583 using calibration phantoms
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 1/1644 using an array of optically separate scintillation elements permitting direct location of scintillations G01T1/1645 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 1/1647 Processing of scintigraphic data not related to a particular imaging system G01T1/2992
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10081 Computed x-ray tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30004 Biomedical image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30112 Baggage; Luggage; Suitcase
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/20 using local operators
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/70 Denoising; Smoothing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 378/901 Computer tomography program or processor

Abstract

An adaptive CT data acquisition system and technique is presented whereby radiation emitted for CT data acquisition is dynamically controlled to limit exposure to those detectors of a CT detector assembly that may be particularly susceptible to saturation during a given data acquisition. The data acquisition technique recognizes that for a given subject size and position that pre-subject filtering and collimating of a radiation beam may be insufficient to completely prevent detector saturation. Therefore, the present invention includes implementation of a number of CT data correction techniques for correcting otherwise unusable data of a saturated CT detector. These data correction techniques include a nearest neighbor correction, off-centered phantom correction, off-centered synthetic data correction, scout data correction, planar radiogram correction, and a number of others. The invention is applicable with energy discriminating CT systems as well as with conventional CT systems and other multi-energy CT systems, such as dual kVp-based systems.

Claims

1. A CT imaging system comprising:

a rotatable gantry having an opening therein to receive a subject to be scanned;

an x-ray source disposed within the rotatable gantry and configured to project a fan beam of x-rays at a subject during CT data acquisition; and

a computer programmed to;

acquire CT data from an object using a plurality of detector elements;

identify the CT data in each of the detector elements as one of normal data, noisy data, and saturated data;

correct the saturated data using an iterative technique; and

determine whether the iterative technique has converged to render a corrected image.

2. The CT imaging system of claim 1 wherein the computer determines whether the iterative technique has converged by being programmed to:

filter without backprojecting the corrected CT data; and

determine a measure of flatness of the filtered CT views.

3. The CT imaging system of claim 1 wherein the computer is further programmed to determine whether the iterative technique has converged by being programmed to:

acquire view data from either axial, helical or scout scans;

verify that no data saturation is present in a view;

compute a nominal integral value of a preprocessed signal over the view; and

compare the nominal integral value to an integral value of saturation corrected views.

4. The CT imaging system of claim 1 wherein the computer is further programmed to apply a filter kernel to the CT data if the CT data is characterized as noisy.

5. The CT imaging system of claim 4 wherein the filter kernel is applied by having the computer programmed to set a strength and range of the filter kernel based on the signal value of the noisy CT data, and replace the noisy CT data with normal CT data acquired proximate the noisy data.

6. The CT imaging system of claim 1 wherein the CT data is acquired from one of a conventional CT or a multi-energy CT system.

7. A method of verifying iteratively corrected CT data comprising the steps of:

acquiring CT data from an object using a plurality of detector elements;

characterizing the CT data in each of the detector elements as one of normal data, noisy data, and saturated data;

correcting any saturated data using an iterative technique; and

determining whether the iterative technique has converged to render a corrected image.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the step of determining comprises the steps of:

filtering without backprojecting the corrected CT data; and

determining a measure of flatness of the filtered CT views.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the step of determining comprises the steps of:

acquiring view data from either axial, helical or scout scans;

verifying that no data saturation is present in a view;

computing a nominal integral value of a preprocessed signal over the view; and

comparing the nominal integral value to an integral value of saturation corrected views.

10. The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of applying a filter kernel to the CT data if the CT data is characterized as noisy.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of applying a filter kernel further comprises setting a strength and range of the filter kernel based on the signal value of the noisy CT data, and replacing the noisy CT data with normal CT data acquired proximate the corrupted data.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein the step of characterizing the CT data uses data acquired from one of a conventional CT or a multi-energy CT system.

13. A computer readable storage medium having a computer programmed thereon and representing a set of instructions that when executed by a computer causes the computer to:

acquire CT data from an object using a plurality of detector elements;

characterize the CT data in each of the detector elements as one of normal data, noisy data, and saturated data;

generate a CT image using an iterative technique;

correct the saturated data; and

determine whether the iterative technique has converged to render a corrected image.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein the computer is further programmed to:

filter without backprojecting the corrected CT data;

determine a measure of flatness of the filtered CT views; and

determine a value of correction for a corrected CT view.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein the computer is further caused to:

acquire view data from either axial, helical or scout scans;

verify that no data saturation is present in a view;

compute a nominal integral value of a preprocessed signal over the view; and

compare the nominal integral value to an integral value of saturation corrected views.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 13 further wherein the computer is further caused to apply a filter kernel to the CT data if the CT data is characterized as noisy.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16 wherein the computer applies a filter kernel by being programmed to set a strength and range of the filter kernel based on the signal value of the noisy CT data, and replace the noisy CT data with normal CT data acquired proximate the noisy data.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein the computer is further caused to characterize the CT data using data acquired from one of a conventional CT or a multi-energy CT system.