Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Material Decomposition in Low-Energy Micro-CT Using a Dual-Threshold Photon Counting X-Ray Detector

Solem, Rasmus ; Dreier, Till LU orcid ; Gonçalves, Isabel LU orcid and Bech, Martin LU orcid (2021) In Frontiers in Physics 9.
Abstract
Material decomposition in computed tomography is a method for differentiation and quantification of materials in a sample and it utilizes the energy dependence of the linear attenuation coefficient. In this study, a post-image reconstruction material decomposition method is constructed for a low-energy micro-CT setup using a photon counting x-ray detector. The low photon energy range (4–11 keV) allows for K-edge contrast separation of naturally occurring materials in organic tissue without the need of additional contrast agents. The decomposition method was verified using a phantom and its capability to decompose biomedical samples was evaluated with paraffin embedded human atherosclerotic plaques. Commonly, the necessary dual energy data... (More)
Material decomposition in computed tomography is a method for differentiation and quantification of materials in a sample and it utilizes the energy dependence of the linear attenuation coefficient. In this study, a post-image reconstruction material decomposition method is constructed for a low-energy micro-CT setup using a photon counting x-ray detector. The low photon energy range (4–11 keV) allows for K-edge contrast separation of naturally occurring materials in organic tissue without the need of additional contrast agents. The decomposition method was verified using a phantom and its capability to decompose biomedical samples was evaluated with paraffin embedded human atherosclerotic plaques. Commonly, the necessary dual energy data for material decomposition is obtained by manipulating the emitted x-ray spectrum from the source. With the photon counting detector, this data was obtained by acquiring two energy window images on each side of the K-edge of one material in the sample. The samples were decomposed into three materials based on attenuation values in manually selected regions. The method shows a successful decomposition of the verification phantom and a distinct distribution of iron, calcium and paraffin in the atherosclerotic plaque samples. Though the decompositions are affected by beam hardening and ring artifacts, the method shows potential for spectral evaluation of biomedical samples. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Frontiers in Physics
volume
9
article number
673843
pages
8 pages
publisher
Frontiers Media S. A.
external identifiers
  • scopus:85107019638
ISSN
2296-424X
DOI
10.3389/fphy.2021.673843
project
Industrial PhD student
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
36fa60f7-069e-4909-b618-146ca81e88eb
date added to LUP
2021-05-10 10:25:44
date last changed
2023-03-16 05:05:58
@article{36fa60f7-069e-4909-b618-146ca81e88eb,
  abstract     = {{Material decomposition in computed tomography is a method for differentiation and quantification of materials in a sample and it utilizes the energy dependence of the linear attenuation coefficient. In this study, a post-image reconstruction material decomposition method is constructed for a low-energy micro-CT setup using a photon counting x-ray detector. The low photon energy range (4–11 keV) allows for K-edge contrast separation of naturally occurring materials in organic tissue without the need of additional contrast agents. The decomposition method was verified using a phantom and its capability to decompose biomedical samples was evaluated with paraffin embedded human atherosclerotic plaques. Commonly, the necessary dual energy data for material decomposition is obtained by manipulating the emitted x-ray spectrum from the source. With the photon counting detector, this data was obtained by acquiring two energy window images on each side of the K-edge of one material in the sample. The samples were decomposed into three materials based on attenuation values in manually selected regions. The method shows a successful decomposition of the verification phantom and a distinct distribution of iron, calcium and paraffin in the atherosclerotic plaque samples. Though the decompositions are affected by beam hardening and ring artifacts, the method shows potential for spectral evaluation of biomedical samples.}},
  author       = {{Solem, Rasmus and Dreier, Till and Gonçalves, Isabel and Bech, Martin}},
  issn         = {{2296-424X}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  publisher    = {{Frontiers Media S. A.}},
  series       = {{Frontiers in Physics}},
  title        = {{Material Decomposition in Low-Energy Micro-CT Using a Dual-Threshold Photon Counting X-Ray Detector}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphy.2021.673843}},
  doi          = {{10.3389/fphy.2021.673843}},
  volume       = {{9}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}