Dose reduction in CT with correlated-polarity noise reduction: comparable image quality at half the dose with projection space processing

James T. Dobbins III; Jered R. Wells; W. P. Segars

doi:10.1117/12.2008563

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6 March 2013 Dose reduction in CT with correlated-polarity noise reduction: comparable image quality at half the dose with projection space processing

James T. Dobbins III, Jered R. Wells, W. P. Segars

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Proceedings Volume 8668, Medical Imaging 2013: Physics of Medical Imaging; 86681O (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2008563
Event: SPIE Medical Imaging, 2013, Lake Buena Vista (Orlando Area), Florida, United States

Abstract

Correlated-polarity noise reduction (CPNR) is a novel noise reduction technique that uses a statistical approach to reduce noise while maintaining excellent resolution and a “normal” noise appearance. It is applicable to any type of medical imaging, and we introduced it at SPIE 2011 for reducing dose three-fold in radiography while maintaining excellent image quality. In this current work, we demonstrate for the first time its use in reducing the noise in CT images as a means of reducing the dose in CT. Simulated chest CT images were generated using the XCAT phantom and Poisson noise was added to simulate a conventional full-dose CT image and a half-dose CT image. CPNR was applied to the half-dose images in projection image space, and then the images were reconstructed using filtered backprojection with a Feldkamp methodology. The resulting CPNR processed half-dose images showed essentially equivalent relative standard deviation in the central heart region to the full-dose images, and about 0.7 times that in half-dose images that were not processed with CPNR. This noise reduction was consistent with a two-fold reduction in dose that is possible with CPNR in CT. The CPNR images demonstrated virtually identical sharpness of vessels and no apparent artifacts. We conclude that CPNR shows strong promise as a new noise reduction method for dose reduction in CT. CPNR could also be used in combination with model-based iterative reconstruction techniques for yet further dose reduction.

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James T. Dobbins III, Jered R. Wells, and W. P. Segars "Dose reduction in CT with correlated-polarity noise reduction: comparable image quality at half the dose with projection space processing", Proc. SPIE 8668, Medical Imaging 2013: Physics of Medical Imaging, 86681O (6 March 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2008563

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