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Michael AE, Boriesosdick J, Schoenbeck D, Lopez-Schmidt I, Kroeger JR, Moenninghoff C, Horstmeier S, Pennig L, Borggrefe J, Niehoff JH. Photon Counting CT Angiography of the Head and Neck: Image Quality Assessment of Polyenergetic and Virtual Monoenergetic Reconstructions. Diagnostics (Basel) 2022; 12:diagnostics12061306. [PMID: 35741116 PMCID: PMC9222087 DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics12061306] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2022] [Revised: 05/21/2022] [Accepted: 05/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: The purpose of the present study was the evaluation of the image quality of polyenergetic and monoenergetic reconstructions (PERs and MERs) of CT angiographies (CTAs) of the head and neck acquired with the novel photon counting CT (PCCT) method in clinical routine. Methods: Thirty-seven patients were enrolled in this retrospective study. Quantitative image parameters of the extracranial, intracranial and cerebral arteries were evaluated for the PER and MER (40–120 keV). Additionally, two radiologists rated the perceived image quality. Results: The mean CTDIvol used in the PCCT was 8.31 ± 1.19 mGy. The highest signal within the vessels was detected in the 40 keV MER, whereas the lowest noise was detected in the 115 keV MER. The most favorable contrast-to-noise-ratio (CNR) and signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) were detected in the PER and low keV MER. In the qualitative image analysis, the PER was superior to the MER in all rated criteria. For MER, 60–65 keV was rated as best image quality. Conclusion: Overall, PCCT offers excellent image quality for CTAs of the head and neck. At the current state, the PER of the PCCT seems to be the most favorable reconstruction for diagnostic reporting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arwed Elias Michael
- Department of Radiology, Neuroradiology and Nuclear Medicine, Johannes Wesling University Hospital, Ruhr University Bochum, 32429 Minden, Germany; (J.B.); (D.S.); (I.L.-S.); (J.R.K.); (C.M.); (S.H.); (J.B.); (J.H.N.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +49-571-790-4601
| | - Jan Boriesosdick
- Department of Radiology, Neuroradiology and Nuclear Medicine, Johannes Wesling University Hospital, Ruhr University Bochum, 32429 Minden, Germany; (J.B.); (D.S.); (I.L.-S.); (J.R.K.); (C.M.); (S.H.); (J.B.); (J.H.N.)
| | - Denise Schoenbeck
- Department of Radiology, Neuroradiology and Nuclear Medicine, Johannes Wesling University Hospital, Ruhr University Bochum, 32429 Minden, Germany; (J.B.); (D.S.); (I.L.-S.); (J.R.K.); (C.M.); (S.H.); (J.B.); (J.H.N.)
| | - Ingo Lopez-Schmidt
- Department of Radiology, Neuroradiology and Nuclear Medicine, Johannes Wesling University Hospital, Ruhr University Bochum, 32429 Minden, Germany; (J.B.); (D.S.); (I.L.-S.); (J.R.K.); (C.M.); (S.H.); (J.B.); (J.H.N.)
| | - Jan Robert Kroeger
- Department of Radiology, Neuroradiology and Nuclear Medicine, Johannes Wesling University Hospital, Ruhr University Bochum, 32429 Minden, Germany; (J.B.); (D.S.); (I.L.-S.); (J.R.K.); (C.M.); (S.H.); (J.B.); (J.H.N.)
| | - Christoph Moenninghoff
- Department of Radiology, Neuroradiology and Nuclear Medicine, Johannes Wesling University Hospital, Ruhr University Bochum, 32429 Minden, Germany; (J.B.); (D.S.); (I.L.-S.); (J.R.K.); (C.M.); (S.H.); (J.B.); (J.H.N.)
| | - Sebastian Horstmeier
- Department of Radiology, Neuroradiology and Nuclear Medicine, Johannes Wesling University Hospital, Ruhr University Bochum, 32429 Minden, Germany; (J.B.); (D.S.); (I.L.-S.); (J.R.K.); (C.M.); (S.H.); (J.B.); (J.H.N.)
| | - Lenhard Pennig
- Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, 50923 Cologne, Germany;
| | - Jan Borggrefe
- Department of Radiology, Neuroradiology and Nuclear Medicine, Johannes Wesling University Hospital, Ruhr University Bochum, 32429 Minden, Germany; (J.B.); (D.S.); (I.L.-S.); (J.R.K.); (C.M.); (S.H.); (J.B.); (J.H.N.)
| | - Julius Henning Niehoff
- Department of Radiology, Neuroradiology and Nuclear Medicine, Johannes Wesling University Hospital, Ruhr University Bochum, 32429 Minden, Germany; (J.B.); (D.S.); (I.L.-S.); (J.R.K.); (C.M.); (S.H.); (J.B.); (J.H.N.)
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Zhang X, Su T, Yang J, Zhu J, Xia D, Zheng H, Liang D, Ge Y. Performance evaluation of dual-energy CT and differential phase contrast CT in quantitative imaging applications. Med Phys 2021; 49:1123-1138. [PMID: 34951037 DOI: 10.1002/mp.15417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2021] [Revised: 11/29/2021] [Accepted: 11/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE The purpose of this study is to evaluate and compare the quantitative material decomposition performance of the dual-energy CT (DECT) and differential phase contrast CT (DPCT) via numerical observer studies. METHODS The electron density (ρe ) and the effective atomic number (Zeff ) are selected as the decomposition bases. The image domain based decomposition algorithms with certain noise suppression are used to extract the ρe and Zeff information under three different spatial resolutions (0.3 mm, 0.1 mm, and 0.03 mm). The contrast-to-noise-ratio (CNR) and the numerical human observer model which is sensitive to the noise textures are investigated to compare the quantitative imaging performance of DECT and DPCT under varied radiation dose levels. RESULTS The model observer results show that the DECT is superior to DPCT at 0.3 mm spatial resolution (300 mm object size); the DECT and DPCT show similar quantitative imaging performance at 0.1 mm spatial resolution (100 mm object size); and the DPCT outperforms the DECT by approximately 1.5 times for the 0.3 mm sized imaging target at 0.03 mm spatial resolution (30 mm object size). CONCLUSIONS In conclusion, the DECT would be recommended to obtain ρe and Zeff for the low spatial resolution quantitative imaging applications such as the diagnostic CT imaging. Whereas, the DPCT would be recommended for ultra high spatial resolution imaging tasks of small objects such as the micro-CT imaging. This study provides a reference to determine the most appropriate quantitative X-ray CT imaging method for a certain radiation dose level. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems of Ministry of Education of China, College of Power Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China.,Research Center for Medical Artificial Intelligence, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, China
| | - Ting Su
- Research Center for Medical Artificial Intelligence, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, China
| | - Jiecheng Yang
- Research Center for Medical Artificial Intelligence, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, China
| | - Jiongtao Zhu
- Research Center for Medical Artificial Intelligence, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, China
| | - Dongmei Xia
- Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems of Ministry of Education of China, College of Power Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China
| | - Hairong Zheng
- Paul C Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, China
| | - Dong Liang
- Research Center for Medical Artificial Intelligence, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, China.,Paul C Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, China
| | - Yongshuai Ge
- Research Center for Medical Artificial Intelligence, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, China.,Paul C Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, China
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Ring-Artifact Correction With Total-Variation Regularization for Material Images in Photon-Counting CT. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON RADIATION AND PLASMA MEDICAL SCIENCES 2021. [DOI: 10.1109/trpms.2020.3022864] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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Russell E, McMahon SJ, Russell B, Mohamud H, McGarry CK, Schettino G, Prise KM. Effects of Gadolinium MRI Contrast Agents on DNA Damage and Cell Survival when Used in Combination with Radiation. Radiat Res 2020; 194:298-309. [PMID: 32942305 DOI: 10.1667/rade-20-00008.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2019] [Accepted: 06/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Gadolinium is a commonly used contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The goal of this work was to determine how MRI contrast agents affect radiosensitivity for tumour cells. Using a 225kVp X-ray cabinet source, immunofluorescence and clonogenic assays were performed on six cancer cell lines: lung (H460), pancreas (MiaPaCa2), prostate (DU145), breast (MCF7), brain (U87) and liver (HEPG2). Dotarem® contrast agent, at concentrations of 0.2, 2 and 20 mM, was used to determine its effect on DNA damage and cell survival. Measurements were performed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to determine the amount of gadolinium taken up by each cell line for each concentration. A statistically significant increase in DNA damage was seen for all cell lines at a dose of 1 Gy for concentrations of 2 and 20 mM, at 1 h postirradiation. At 24 h postirradiation, most of the DNA damage had been repaired, with approximately 90% repair for almost all doses of radiation and concentrations of Dotarem. Clonogenic results showed no statistically significant decrease in cell survival for any cell line or concentration. Uptake measurements showed cell line-specific variations in uptake, with MCF7 and HEPG2 cells having a high percentage uptake compared to other cell lines, with 151.4 ± 0.3 × 10-15 g and 194.8 ± 0.4 × 10-15 g per cell, respectively, at 2 mM Dotarem concentration. In this work, a variability in gadolinium uptake was observed between cell lines. A significant increase was seen in initial levels of DNA damage after 1 Gy irradiation for all six cancer cell lines; however, no significant decrease in cell survival was seen with the clonogenic assay. The observation of high levels of repair suggest that while initial levels of DNA damage are increased, this damage is almost entirely repaired within 24 h, and does not affect the ability of cells to survive and produce colonies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily Russell
- Patrick G. Johnson Centre for Cancer Research, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, BT9 7AE, United Kingdom.,National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, TW11 0LW, United Kingdom
| | - Stephen J McMahon
- Patrick G. Johnson Centre for Cancer Research, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, BT9 7AE, United Kingdom
| | - Ben Russell
- National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, TW11 0LW, United Kingdom
| | - Hibaaq Mohamud
- National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, TW11 0LW, United Kingdom
| | - Conor K McGarry
- Patrick G. Johnson Centre for Cancer Research, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, BT9 7AE, United Kingdom.,Radiotherapy Physics, Northern Ireland Cancer Centre, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Belfast, United Kingdom
| | - Giuseppe Schettino
- National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, TW11 0LW, United Kingdom.,University of Surrey, Department of Physics, Guilford, GU2 7XH, United Kingdom
| | - Kevin M Prise
- Patrick G. Johnson Centre for Cancer Research, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, BT9 7AE, United Kingdom
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Vespucci S, Park CS, Torrico R, Das M. Robust Energy Calibration Technique for Photon Counting Spectral Detectors. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MEDICAL IMAGING 2019; 38:968-978. [PMID: 30346280 DOI: 10.1109/tmi.2018.2875932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
This paper describes the implementation of a novel and robust threshold energy calibration method for photon counting detectors using polychromatic X-ray tubes. Methods often used for such energy calibration may require re-orientation of the detector or introduce calibration errors that are flux and acquisition time-dependent. Our newly proposed "differential intensity ratios" (DIR) method offers a practical and robust alternative to existing methods. We demonstrate this robustness against photon flux used in calibration, spectral errors such as pulse pile-up as well as the detector's inherent spectral resolution limits. The demonstrated significant insensitivity of the proposed DIR signature to detector spectral distortions and energy resolution is a key finding. The proposed DIR calibration method is demonstrated using Medipix3RX detectors with a CdTe sensor under varying flux conditions. A per pixel calibration using the DIR method has also been implemented to demonstrate an improvement over the global energy resolution of the PCD.
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Ji X, Zhang R, Chen GH, Li K. Impact of anti-charge sharing on the zero-frequency detective quantum efficiency of CdTe-based photon counting detector system: cascaded systems analysis and experimental validation. Phys Med Biol 2018; 63:095003. [PMID: 29582785 PMCID: PMC5975362 DOI: 10.1088/1361-6560/aab9c9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Inter-pixel communication and anti-charge sharing (ACS) technologies have been introduced to photon counting detector (PCD) systems to address the undesirable charge sharing problem. In addition to improving the energy resolution of PCD, ACS may also influence other aspects of PCD performance such as detector multiplicity (i.e. the number of pixels triggered by each interacted photon) and detective quantum efficiency (DQE). In this work, a theoretical model was developed to address how ACS impacts the multiplicity and zero-frequency DQE [DQE(0)] of PCD systems. The work focused on cadmium telluride (CdTe)-based PCD that often involves the generation and transport of K-fluorescence photons. Under the parallel cascaded systems analysis framework, the theory takes both photoelectric and scattering effects into account, and it also considers both the reabsorption and escape of photons. In a new theoretical treatment of ACS, it was considered as a modified version of the conventional single pixel (i.e. non-ACS) mode, but with reduced charge spreading distance and K-fluorescence travel distance. The proposed theoretical model does not require prior knowledge of the detailed ACS implementation method for each specific PCD, and its parameters can be experimentally determined using a radioisotope without invoking any Monte-Carlo simulation. After determining the model parameters, independent validation experiments were performed using a diagnostic x-ray tube and four different polychromatic beams (from 50 to 120 kVp). Both the theoretical and experimental results demonstrate that ACS increased the first and second moments of multiplicity for a majority of the x-ray energy and threshold levels tested, except when the threshold level was much lower than the x-ray energy level. However, ACS always improved DQE(0) at all energy and threshold levels tested.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xu Ji
- Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1111 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705
| | - Ran Zhang
- Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1111 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705
| | - Guang-Hong Chen
- Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1111 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705
- Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 600 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53792
| | - Ke Li
- Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1111 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705
- Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 600 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53792
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