Radiomics studies often analyze patient computed tomography (CT) images acquired from different CT scanners. This may result in differences in imaging parameters, e.g. different manufacturers, different acquisition protocols, etc. However, quantifiable differences in radiomics features can occur based on acquisition parameters. A controlled protocol may allow for minimization of these effects, thus allowing for larger patient cohorts from many different CT scanners. In order to test radiomics feature variability across different CT scanners a radiomics phantom was developed with six different cartridges encased in high density polystyrene. A harmonized protocol was developed to control for tube voltage, tube current, scan type, pitch, CTDIvol, convolution kernel, display field of view, and slice thickness across different manufacturers. The radiomics phantom was imaged on 18 scanners using the control protocol. A linear mixed effects model was created to assess the impact of inter-scanner variability with decomposition of feature variation between scanners and cartridge materials. The inter-scanner variability was compared to the residual variability (the unexplained variability) and to the inter-patient variability using two different patient cohorts. The patient cohorts consisted of 20 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and 30 head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients. The inter-scanner standard deviation was at least half of the residual standard deviation for 36 of 49 quantitative image features. The ratio of inter-scanner to patient coefficient of variation was above 0.2 for 22 and 28 of the 49 features for NSCLC and HNSCC patients, respectively. Inter-scanner variability was a significant factor compared to patient variation in this small study for many of the features. Further analysis with a larger cohort will allow more thorough analysis with additional variables in the model to truly isolate the interscanner difference.
Pinhole imaging is a promising approach for high spatial resolution single gamma emission
imaging in situations when the required field of view (FOV) is small, as is the case for small
animal imaging. However, all pinhole collimators exhibit steep decrease in sensitivity with
increasing angle of incidence from the pinhole axis. This in turn degrades the reconstruction
images, and requires higher dose of radiotracer. We developed a novel pinhole SPECT system
for small animal imaging which uses two opposing and offset small cone-angle square
pinholes, each looking at half of the FOV. This design allows the pinholes to be placed closer to
the object and greatly increases detection efficiency and spatial resolution, while not requiring
larger size detectors. Iterative image reconstruction algorithms for this system have been developed. Preliminary experimental data have demonstrated marked improvement in contrast and spatial resolution.
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