Single-Energy Material Decomposition in Radiography Using a Three-Dimensional Laser Scanner

• Published in: Journal of the Korean Physical Society 2019, 75(2), , pp.153-159
• Main Authors: Kim, Guna, Lim, Younghwan, Park, Jeongeun, Kim, Woosung, Lee, Dongyeon, Cho, Hyosung, Park, Chulkyu, Kang, Seokyoon, Kim, Kyuseok, Park, Soyoung, Lim, Hyunwoo, Lee, Hunwoo, Jeon, Duhee
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algorithms; Attenuation; Bones; Computer simulation; Decomposition; Mathematical and Computational Physics; Particle and Nuclear Physics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Radiographs; Radiography; Soft tissues; Theoretical; Viability; 물리학
• ISSN: 0374-4884; 1976-8524
• DOI: 10.3938/jkps.75.153

We investigated an efficient method for material decomposition in radiography, which can separate soft tissues and bones from a single radiograph with the aid of a surface image obtained using a three-dimensional laser scanner through which the attenuation length within an object is estimated. This approach does not require double radiation exposures; thus, it can eliminate the technical difficulties associated with the conventional dual-energy material decomposition (DEMD) method, such as increased patient doses, increased execution time, and misregistration errors between two scans. We implemented the proposed algorithm and performed a computational simulation and an experiment to demonstrate its viability for single-energy material decomposition in radiography (80 kV p was used). The image characteristics of the proposed method were investigated and compared with those obtained using the DEMD method (50 kV p and 80 kV p were used). Our results indicate that the estimate of the attenuation length by using the surface image of the examined object may substitute for one of the two dual-energy measurements in conventional DEMD. Accordingly, the proposed method yielded material decomposition results similar to the results elicited by the DEMD method in radiography.