• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.2057-2062
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• 2024

Among photon counting detector (PCD)-based technologies, the K-edge subtraction (KES) method has a very high material decomposition efficiency. Yet, since the increase in noise in the X-ray image to which the KES method is applied is inevitable, research on image quality improvement is essential. Here, we modeled a block-matching and 3D filtering (BM3D) algorithm and applied it to PCD-based X-ray images with the improved KES (IKES) method. For PCD modeling, Monte Carlo simulation was used, and a phantom composed of iodine substances with different concentrations was designed. The IKES method was modeled by adding a log term to KES, and the X-ray image used for subtraction was obtained by applying the 3.0 keV range based on the K-edge region of iodine. As a result, the IKES image using the BM3D algorithm showed the lowest normalized noise power spectrum value. In addition, we confirmed that the contrast-to-noise ratio and no-reference-based evaluation results when the BM3D algorithm was applied to the IKES image were improved by 29.36 % and 20.56 %, respectively, compared to the noisy image. In conclusion, we demonstrated that the IKES imaging technique using a PCD-based detector and the BM3D algorithm fusion technique were very efficient for X-ray imaging.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.523-530
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to obtain the K-edge images using a spectral CT system based on a photon-counting detector and implement the 3D fusion imaging using the conventional and spectral CT images. Also, we evaluated the clinical feasibility of the 3D fusion images though the quantitative analysis of image quality. A spectral CT system based on a CdTe photon-counting detector was used to obtain K-edge images. A pork phantom was manufactured with the six tubes including diluted iodine and gadolinium solutions. The K-edge images were obtained by the low-energy thresholds of 35 and 52 keV for iodine and gadolinium imaging with the X-ray spectrum, which was generated at a tube voltage of 100 kVp with a tube current of $500{\mu}A$. We implemented 3D fusion imaging by combining the iodine and gadolinium K-edge images with the conventional CT images. The results showed that the CNRs of the 3D fusion images were 6.76-14.9 times higher than those of the conventional CT images. Also, the 3D fusion images was able to provide the maps of target materials. Therefore, the technique proposed in this study can improve the quality of CT images and the diagnostic efficiency through the additional information of target materials.