Limited-Range Few-View CT: Using Historical Images for ROI Reconstruction in Solitary Lung Nodules Follow-up Examination

• Published in: IEEE transactions on medical imaging 2017-12, Vol.36 (12), p.2569-2577
• Main Authors: Zhang, Weikang, Song, Ying, Chen, Yi, Ma, Jingchen, Sun, Jianqi, Zhao, Jun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cancer; Computed tomography; Detectors; Health risks; Image reconstruction; Lung; Lung nodule follow-up; Lung nodules; Medical imaging; Monitoring; Nodules; radiation reduction; Scanning; the first CT scans; X-rays
• ISSN: 0278-0062; 1558-254X
• DOI: 10.1109/TMI.2017.2766101

Repeated CT scans are known to increase the risk of cancer; thus, it is paradoxical to use multiple follow-up CT scans to monitor the development of a lung nodule and conduct early treatment of the nodule. In the case of a solitary lung nodule, regional scanning and region of interest (ROI) reconstruction are likely to restore the internal area at the nodule. A limited-range few-view CT is proposed in this paper for lung nodule follow-ups with extremely reduced X-radiation. For a planned scanning of an ROI, where a solitary lung nodule is positioned, a limited-range few-view CT can be employed, and thus, less tissue is exposed to X-radiation per view. An ROI reconstruction method is also proposed that makes full use of the former standard lung scan. The experimental results show that the nodule size and shape are preserved. In the case of a 40-mm ROI, the number of exposed X-rays can be reduced by 99.6% for a circular scan and 99.9% for a 3-D scan.