A Novel Dual Energy Method for Enhanced Quantitative Computed Tomography Publisher



Emami A^{1, 2, 3} ; Ghadiri H^{1, 2} ; Rahmim A⁴ ; Ay MR^{1, 2}
Source: Journal of Instrumentation Published:2018

Abstract

Accurate assessment of bone mineral density (BMD) is critically important in clinical practice, and conveniently enabled via quantitative computed tomography (QCT). Meanwhile, dual-energy QCT (DEQCT) enables enhanced detection of small changes in BMD relative to single-energy QCT (SEQCT). In the present study, we aimed to investigate the accuracy of QCT methods, with particular emphasis on a new dual-energy approach, in comparison to single-energy and conventional dual-energy techniques. We used a sinogram-based analytical CT simulator to model the complete chain of CT data acquisitions, and assessed performance of SEQCT and different DEQCT techniques in quantification of BMD. We demonstrate a 120% reduction in error when using a proposed dual-energy Simultaneous Equation by Constrained Least-squares method, enabling more accurate bone mineral measurements. © 2018 IOP Publishing Ltd and Sissa Medialab.