Image Quality Analysis of Photon-Counting CT Compared with Dual-Source CT: A Phantom Study for Chest CT Examinations

A comparison was made between the image quality of a photon-counting CT (PCCT) and a dual-source CT (DSCT). The evaluation of image quality was performed using a Catphan CT phantom, and the physical metrics, such as the noise power spectrum and task transfer function, were measured for both PCCT and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Diagnostics (Basel) 2023-04, Vol.13 (7), p.1325
Main Authors: Deleu, Marine, Maurice, Jean-Baptiste, Devos, Laura, Remy, Martine, Dubus, François
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algorithms
Cadmium telluride
Chest
CT imaging
detectability index
Energy
iterative reconstruction algorithm
Medical examination
Medical imaging
Methods
noise power spectrum
Performance evaluation
photon counting
Scanners
Sensors
task transfer function
Tomography
X-rays
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Summary:A comparison was made between the image quality of a photon-counting CT (PCCT) and a dual-source CT (DSCT). The evaluation of image quality was performed using a Catphan CT phantom, and the physical metrics, such as the noise power spectrum and task transfer function, were measured for both PCCT and DSCT at three CT dose indices (1, 5 and 10 mGy). Polyenergetic and virtual monoenergetic reconstructions were used to evaluate the performance differences by simulating a Gaussian spot with a radius of 5 mm and calculating the detectability index. The highest iterative reconstruction level was able to decrease the noise by about 70% compared with the filtered back projection using a parenchyma reconstruction kernel. The PCCT task transfer functions remained constant, while those of the DSCT increased with the reconstruction strength level. At monoenergetic 70 keV, a 50% decrease in noise was observed for DSCT with image smoothing, while PCCT had the same 50% decrease in noise without any smoothing. The PCCT detectability index at a reconstruction strength level of two was equivalent to the highest level of ADMIRE 5 for DSCT. The PCCT showed its superiority over the DSCT, especially for lung nodule detection.
ISSN:2075-4418
2075-4418
DOI:10.3390/diagnostics13071325