Scatter simulation with a radiative transfer equation using direct integral spherical harmonics method for computed tomography

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10271811-B2
Application number	US-201615210657-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 14, 2016
Priority date	Jul 14, 2016
Publication date	Apr 30, 2019
Grant date	Apr 30, 2019

Abstract

A method and apparatus is provided to calculate scatter using a method to determine primary X-ray flux, first-scatter flux, and multiple-scatter flux using an integral formulation of a radiative transfer equation and using spherical-harmonic expansion. The integral for the primary X-ray flux does not include a spherical-harmonic expansion. The integral for the first-scatter flux includes an angle-dependent scatter cross-section. The integral for the multiple-scatter flux is performed iteratively, includes spherical harmonics, and includes a scatter cross-section expanded using Legendre polynomials. The integrals of attenuation along propagation rays can be accelerated using material decomposition of the attenuation coefficients. An anti-scatter-grid term can be included in the integrals to account for the effects of an anti-scatter grid on the fluxes prior to detection of the X-rays.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
circuitry configured to
obtain projection data representing an intensity of X-ray radiation detected at a plurality of detector elements,
obtain a model of an object between an X-ray source generating the X-ray radiation and the plurality of detector elements, the model representing a spatial distribution of material components of the object,
determine, using the model and a radiative transfer equation, scattered X-ray data representing an intensity of scattered X-ray radiation detected at the plurality of detector elements, the radiative transfer equation being expressed as an integral equation including a first portion corresponding to a primary flux and a second portion corresponding to a scatter flux, the scattered X-ray data being determined by
integrating an attenuation from the X-ray source to a detection location or a first scatter location to calculate the first portion for generation of the primary flux, and
iteratively calculating a multiple-scatter flux from a first order scatter calculated based on the primary flux at the first scatter location, using position dependent cross-sections and spherical-harmonic components to calculate the second portion for generation of the scatter,

correct the projection data based on the scattered X-ray data to obtain scatter corrected projection data, and
reconstruct an image of the object from the scatter-corrected projection data; and

a display configured to display the reconstructed image of the object.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to iteratively calculate the multiple-scatter flux by
iteratively updating the multiple-scatter flux, which is decomposed into a plurality of multiple-scatter spherical-harmonic components, by integrating products of respective spherical-harmonic components of a previous iteration of the multiple-scatter flux at a scatter location of the previous iteration with corresponding spherical-harmonic components of the predefined scatter cross-section at a scatter location of a next iteration to generate the multiple-scatter flux of the next iteration, wherein
the multiple-scatter flux of a first iteration is the first-scatter flux and a scatter location of the first iteration is the first scatter location.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to calculate the scattered X-ray data by
the iteratively updating of the multiple-scatter flux using spherical-harmonic components of the predefined scatter cross-section that are obtained by using a Legendre polynomial to expand the predefined scatter cross-section.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to calculate the scattered X-ray data by the updating of the multiple-scatter flux, including integrating an attenuation from the scatter location of the previous iteration to the scatter location of the next iteration.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to calculate the scattered X-ray data by the integrating of the attenuation from the X-ray source to the detection location or the first scatter location, including a material decomposition of the attenuation into a plurality of material components.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to calculate the scattered X-ray data by the integrating of the attenuation from the X-ray source to the detection location or the first scatter location, including precomputing the plurality of material attenuation components and storing the plurality of material attenuation components in a memory.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to determine the predefined scatter cross-sections at respective scatter locations of the iterations of the iteratively updating of the multiple-scatter flux using corresponding scatter locations on the spatial distribution of the material components of the object represented by the model and predetermined scatter cross-sections of the material components of the object.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to obtain the model of the object by
correcting scatter in the projection data using a kernel-based method to generate corrected projection data,
reconstructing a computed tomography image of the object to generate the model of the object, and
performing material decomposition to generate the material components of the object for the model.

9. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to calculate the scattered X-ray data by
correcting the first-scatter flux at the plurality of detector elements to account for an effect of an anti-scatter grid, and
correcting the multiple-scatter flux at the plurality of detector elements to account for the effect of the anti-scatter grid.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a gantry including a rotating member;
the X-ray source radiating X-rays, the X-ray source fixed to the rotating member; and
the plurality of detector elements fixed to the rotating member and arranged diametrically opposed to the X-ray source, wherein
the obtaining of the projection data is performed by detecting, at the plurality of detector elements, X-ray radiation from the X-ray source to generate the projection data.

11. An apparatus, comprising:
circuitry configured to
obtain projection data representing an intensity of X-ray radiation detected at a plurality of detector elements,
obtain a model of an object between an X-ray source generating the X-ray radiation and the plurality of detector elements, the model representing a spatial distribution of material components of the object,
determine, using the model and a radiative transfer equation, scattered X-ray data representing an intensity of scattered X-ray radiation detected at the plurality of detector elements, the radiative transfer equation being expressed as an integral equation including a first portion corresponding to a primary flux and a second portion corresponding to a scatter flux, the scattered X-ray data being determined by
integrating an attenuation from the X-ray source to a detection location or a first scatter location to calculate the first portion for generation of the primary flux, and
iteratively calculating a multiple-scatter flux from a first order scatter calculated based on the primary flux at the first scatter location, using position dependent cross-sections and spherical-harmonic components to calculate the second portion for generation of the scatter,

correct the projection data based on the scattered X-ray data to obtain scatter-corrected projection data, and
reconstruct an image of the object from the scatter corrected projection data; and

a display configured to display the reconstructed image of the object.

12. A method, comprising:
obtaining projection data representing an intensity of X-ray radiation detected at a plurality of detector elements,
obtaining a model of an object between an X-ray source generating the X-ray radiation and the plurality of detector elements, the model representing a spatial distribution of material components of the object,
determining, using the model and a radiative transfer equation, scattered X-ray data representing an intensity of scattered X-ray radiation detected at the plurality of detector elements, the radiative transfer equation being expressed as an integral equation including a first portion corresponding to a primary flux and a second portion corresponding to a scatter flux,

Assignees

• Toshiba Medical Sys Corp

Inventors

• Lu Yujie
• Zou Yu
• Wang Xiaolan
• Yu Zhou
• Thompson Richard

Classifications

• A61B6/4435

  the source unit and the detector unit being coupled by a rigid structure · CPC title

• A61B6/5282 Primary

  due to scatter · CPC title

• A61B6/032

  Transmission computed tomography [CT] · CPC title

• A61B6/583

  using calibration phantoms · CPC title

• A61B6/483

  involving scattered radiation · CPC title