In many cone-beam CT (CBCT) designs (linac-mounted and C-arms), source and detector trajectories are reproducible but deviate from their nominal paths due to mechanical flex. Since accurate knowledge of the scan geometry is crucial for CBCT image quality, angle-dependent geometric calibration is required, generally using phantoms with bearing balls (BBs) at known positions. However, when tangentially offsetting the detector to increase the field-of-view, multi-BB calibration is not ideal because: (a) the same BBs are not visible in opposite views, negatively affecting the robustness in matching opposing projections, and (b) the calibration becomes more sensitive to deviations from nominal BB positions, e.g. from manufacturing tolerances or post-manufacturing deformation. We present a novel calibration method for scanners with significantly offset detector. Inspired by checkerboard camera calibration, it uses circuit boards with etched copper patterns, readily available to micrometre precision. The method offers full nine-degrees-of-freedom calibration, is robust to phantom assembly and positioning inaccuracies, and uses patterns that cover a large portion of the detector and extend across the overlap region to improve matching of opposing views. For quantitative evaluation was used the smallest sphere intersected by rays back-projected from a 360-degree scan of BBs 100 mm from the isocentre. For a linac-mounted CBCT, the average radius was decreased from 0.48 mm (with single-BB calibration) to 0.14 mm. Corresponding improvements were seen in off-centre slices of Catphan phantom reconstructions. We propose the method as an easy-to-manufacture, simple-to-use, robust alternative to multi-BB calibration for CBCT systems with offset detector, suitable also for noncircular orbits.
The purpose of the present study was to develop and evaluate a practical dual-energy imaging approach for enhancing on-board cone-beam CT (CBCT) image quality for brain radiotherapy applications. The proposed primary technique involves a projection domain calibration procedure. In-house fabricated aluminum and acrylic step wedges were stacked and oriented orthogonally to each other to produce 72 unique combinations of two-material path lengths, i.e. 8 acrylic steps × 9 aluminum steps. High (120 kV) and low (70 kV) energy projections were acquired of the step wedges and a 3rd order polynomial fit was used to map the log-normalized projection intensities to the known acrylic and aluminum thicknesses. The subsequent model was tested on two phantoms: 1) in-house DE phantom with PMMA background and calcium inserts of different concentrations (5 mg/mL, 200 mg/mL and 400 mg/mL) and 2) a RANDO head phantom. The decomposed projections were reconstructed separately as aluminum-only and acrylic-only reconstructions. In addition, virtual monochromatic projections (VMPs) obtained by combining the aluminum-only and acrylic-only projections were reconstructed at different keVs. A quantitative improvement was observed in the SDNR (signal difference to noise ratios) of the calcium inserts using Aluminum-reconstructions and synthesized VMPs (40 to 100 keV) compared to the single energy reconstructions. A reduction in beam hardening was observed as well. In addition, a qualitative improvement in soft-tissue visualization was observed with the RANDO phantom reconstructions. The findings indicate the potential of dual energy CBCT images: material specific images as well as VMPs for improved CBCT-based image guidance. The present approach can readily be applied on existing commercial systems and a feasibility study on patients is a worthwhile investigation.
Sayed Masoud Hashemi, Young Lee, Markus Eriksson, Håkan Nordström, James Mainprize, Vladimir Grouza, Christopher Huynh, Arjun Sahgal, William Song, Mark Ruschin
A Contrast and Attenuation–map (CT-number) Linearity Improvement (CALI) framework is proposed for
cone-beam CT (CBCT) images used for brain stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). The proposed framework is
used together with our high spatial resolution iterative reconstruction algorithm and is tailored for the Leksell
Gamma Knife ICON (Elekta, Stockholm, Sweden). The incorporated CBCT system in ICON facilitates
frameless SRS planning and treatment delivery. The ICON employs a half-cone geometry to accommodate
the existing treatment couch. This geometry increases the amount of artifacts and together with other physical
imperfections causes image inhomogeneity and contrast reduction. Our proposed framework includes a
preprocessing step, involving a shading and beam-hardening artifact correction, and a post-processing step to
correct the dome/capping artifact caused by the spatial variations in x-ray energy generated by bowtie-filter.
Our shading correction algorithm relies solely on the acquired projection images (i.e. no prior information
required) and utilizes filtered-back-projection (FBP) reconstructed images to generate a segmented bone and
soft-tissue map. Ideal projections are estimated from the segmented images and a smoothed version of the
difference between the ideal and measured projections is used in correction. The proposed beam-hardening
and dome artifact corrections are segmentation free. The CALI was tested on CatPhan, as well as patient
images acquired on the ICON system. The resulting clinical brain images show substantial improvements in
soft contrast visibility, revealing structures such as ventricles and lesions which were otherwise un-detectable
in FBP-reconstructed images. The linearity of the reconstructed attenuation-map was also improved, resulting
in more accurate CT#.
A high spatial resolution iterative reconstruction algorithm is proposed for a half cone beam CT (HCBCT) geometry. The proposed algorithm improves spatial resolution by explicitly accounting for image blurriness caused by different factors, such as extended X-ray source and detector response. The blurring kernel is estimated using the MTF slice of the Catphan phantom. The proposed algorithm is specifically optimized for the new Leksell Gamma Knife Icon (Elekta AB, Stockholm, Sweden) which incorporates the HCBCT geometry to accommodate the existing treatment couch while covering down to the base-of-skull in the reconstructed field-of-view. Image reconstruction involves a Fourier-based scaling simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique (SART) coupled with total variation (TV) minimization and non-local mean denoising, solved using a split Bregman separation technique that splits the reconstruction problem into a gradient based updating step and a TV-based deconvolution algorithm. This formulation preserves edges and reduces the staircase effect caused by regular TV-penalized iterative algorithms. Our experiments indicate that our proposed method outperforms the conventional filtered back projection and TV penalized SART methods in terms of line pair resolution and retains the favorable properties of the standard TV-penalized reconstruction.
This paper presents a pre-amplified detector receiver based on a 250 nm InP/InGaAs/InP double heterojunction bipolar transistor (DHBT) process available from the Teledyne scientific. The front end consists of a double slot antenna followed by a five stage low noise amplifier and a detector, all integrated onto the same circuit. Results of measured responsivity and noise are presented. The receiver is characterized through measuring its response to hot (293) and cold (78) K terminations. Measurements of the voltage noise spectrum at the video output of the receiver are presented and can be used to derive the temperature resolution of the receiver for a specific video bandwidth.
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