Performance of low-dose CT image reconstruction for detecting intracerebral hemorrhage: selection of dose, algorithms and their combinations / 南方医科大学学报

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the performance of different low-dose CT image reconstruction algorithms for detecting intracerebral hemorrhage.@*METHODS@#Low-dose CT imaging simulation was performed on CT images of intracerebral hemorrhage at 30%, 25% and 20% of normal dose level (defined as 100% dose). Seven algorithms were tested to reconstruct low-dose CT images for noise suppression, including filtered back projection algorithm (FBP), penalized weighted least squares-total variation (PWLS-TV), non-local mean filter (NLM), block matching 3D (BM3D), residual encoding-decoding convolutional neural network (REDCNN), the FBP convolutional neural network (FBPConvNet) and image restoration iterative residual convolutional network (IRLNet). A deep learning-based model (CNN-LSTM) was used to detect intracerebral hemorrhage on normal dose CT images and low-dose CT images reconstructed using the 7 algorithms. The performance of different reconstruction algorithms for detecting intracerebral hemorrhage was evaluated by comparing the results between normal dose CT images and low-dose CT images.@*RESULTS@#At different dose levels, the low-dose CT images reconstructed by FBP had accuracies of detecting intracerebral hemorrhage of 82.21%, 74.61% and 65.55% at 30%, 25% and 20% dose levels, respectively. At the same dose level (30% dose), the images reconstructed by FBP, PWLS-TV, NLM, BM3D, REDCNN, FBPConvNet and IRLNet algorithms had accuracies for detecting intracerebral hemorrhage of 82.21%, 86.80%, 89.37%, 81.43%, 90.05%, 90.72% and 93.51%, respectively. The images reconstructed by IRLNet at 30%, 25% and 20% dose levels had accuracies for detecting intracerebral hemorrhage of 93.51%, 93.51% and 93.06%, respectively.@*CONCLUSION@#The performance of reconstructed low-dose CT images for detecting intracerebral hemorrhage is significantly affected by both dose and reconstruction algorithms. In clinical practice, choosing appropriate dose level and reconstruction algorithm can greatly reduce the radiation dose and ensure the detection performance of CT imaging for intracerebral hemorrhage.

A nonlocal spectral similarity-induced material decomposition method for noise reduction of dual-energy CT images / 南方医科大学学报

OBJECTIVE@#To propose a nonlocal spectral similarity-induced material decomposition network (NSSD-Net) to reduce the correlation noise in the low-dose spectral CT decomposed images.@*METHODS@#We first built a model-driven iterative decomposition model for dual-energy CT, optimized the objective function solving process using the iterative shrinking threshold algorithm (ISTA), and cast the ISTA decomposition model into the deep learning network. We then developed a novel cost function based on the nonlocal spectral similarity to constrain the training process. To validate the decomposition performance, we established a material decomposition dataset by real patient dual-energy CT data. The NSSD-Net was compared with two traditional model-driven material decomposition methods, one data-based material decomposition method and one data-model coupling-driven material decomposition supervised learning method.@*RESULTS@#The quantitative results showed that compared with the two traditional methods, the NSSD-Net method obtained the highest PNSR values (31.383 and 31.444) and SSIM values (0.970 and 0.963) and the lowest RMSE values (2.901 and 1.633). Compared with the datamodel coupling-driven supervised decomposition method, the NSSD-Net method obtained the highest SSIM values on water and bone decomposed results. The results of subjective image quality assessment by clinical experts showed that the NSSD-Net achieved the highest image quality assessment scores on water and bone basis material (8.625 and 8.250), showing significant differences from the other 4 decomposition methods (P < 0.001).@*CONCLUSION@#The proposed method can achieve high-precision material decomposition and avoid training data quality issues and model unexplainable issues.

An adaptive CT metal artifact reduction algorithm that combines projection interpolation and physical correction / 南方医科大学学报

OBJECTIVE@#To propose an adaptive weighted CT metal artifact reduce algorithm that combines projection interpolation and physical correction.@*METHODS@#A normalized metal projection interpolation algorithm was used to obtain the initial corrected projection data. A metal physical correction model was then introduced to obtain the physically corrected projection data. To verify the effectiveness of the method, we conducted experiments using simulation data and clinical data. For the simulation data, the quantitative indicators PSNR and SSIM were used for evaluation, while for the clinical data, the resultant images were evaluated by imaging experts to compare the artifact-reducing performance of different methods.@*RESULTS@#For the simulation data, the proposed method improved the PSNR value by at least 0.2 dB and resulted in the highest SSIM value among the methods for comparison. The experiment with the clinical data showed that the imaging experts gave the highest scores of 3.616±0.338 (in a 5-point scale) to the images processed using the proposed method, which had significant better artifact-reducing performance than the other methods (P < 0.001).@*CONCLUSION@#The metal artifact reduction algorithm proposed herein can effectively reduce metal artifacts while preserving the tissue structure information and reducing the generation of new artifacts.

Low-dose helical CT projection data restoration using noise estimation / 南方医科大学学报

OBJECTIVE@#To build a helical CT projection data restoration model at random low-dose levels.@*METHODS@#We used a noise estimation module to achieve noise estimation and obtained a low-dose projection noise variance map, which was used to guide projection data recovery by the projection data restoration module. A filtering back-projection algorithm (FBP) was finally used to reconstruct the images. The 3D wavelet group residual dense network (3DWGRDN) was adopted to build the network architecture of the noise estimation and projection data restoration module using asymmetric loss and total variational regularization. For validation of the model, 1/10 and 1/15 of normal dose helical CT images were restored using the proposed model and 3 other restoration models (IRLNet, REDCNN and MWResNet), and the results were visually and quantitatively compared.@*RESULTS@#Quantitative comparisons of the restored images showed that the proposed helical CT projection data restoration model increased the structural similarity index by 5.79% to 17.46% compared with the other restoration algorithms (P < 0.05). The image quality scores of the proposed method rated by clinical radiologists ranged from 7.19% to 17.38%, significantly higher than the other restoration algorithms (P < 0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#The proposed method can effectively suppress noises and reduce artifacts in the projection data at different low-dose levels while preserving the integrity of the edges and fine details of the reconstructed CT images.

Influence of projection data correction on digital breast tomosynthesis imaging / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of detector performance during digital breast tomography (DBT) projection data acquisition on reconstructed image quality.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>With reference to the traditional detector data correction method and the specific data acquisition pattern in DBT imaging, we utilized dark field correction, light field and its gain correction for processing the projection data collected by the detector. The reconstructed images were evaluated using iterative reconstruction method based on total generalized variation (TGV).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In physical breast phantom experiment, the proposed method resulted in a reduced Heel effect caused by nonuniform photon number. The reconstructed DBT images after correction showed obviously improved image quality especially in the details with a low contrast.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The dark field correction, light field and its gain correction process for DBT image reconstruction can improve the image quality.</p>

Sinogram restoration for low-dose cerebral perfusion CT images / 南方医科大学学报

In clinical cerebral perfusion CT examination, repeated scanning the region of interest in the cine mode increases the radiation dose of the patients, while decreasing the radiation dose by lowering the scanning current results in poor image quality and affects the clinical diagnosis. We propose a penalized weighted least-square (PWLS) method for recovering the projection data to improve the quality of low-dose cerebral perfusion CT imaged. This method incorporates the statistical distribution characteristics of brain perfusion CT projection data and uses the statistical properties of the projection data for modeling. The PWLS method was used to recover the data, and the Gauss-Seidel (GS) method was employed for iterative solving. Adaptive weighting is introduced between the original projection data and the projection data after PWLS restoration. The experimental results on the clinical data demonstrated that the PWLS-based sinogram restoration method improved noise reduction and artifact suppression as compared with the conventional noise reduction methods, and better retained the edges and details to generate better cerebral perfusion maps.

Motion-compensated compressed sensing four-dimensional cone-beam CT reconstruction / 南方医科大学学报

Restriction by hardware caused the very low projection number at a single phase for 4-dimensional cone beam (4D-CBCT) CT imaging, and reconstruction using conventional reconstruction algorithms is thus constrained by serious streak artifacts and noises. To address this problem, we propose an approach to reconstructing 4D-CBCT images with multi-phase projections based on the assumption that the image at one phase can be viewed as the motion-compensated image at another phase. Specifically, we formulated a cost function using multi-phase projections to construct the fidelity term and the TV regularization method. For fidelity term construction, the projection data of the current phase and those at other phases were jointly used by reformulating the imaging model. The Gradient-Projection-Barzilai-Line search (GPBL) method was used to optimize the complex cost function. Physical phantom and patient data results showed that the proposed approach could effectively reduce the noise and artifacts, and the introduction of additional temporal correlation did not introduce new artifacts or motion blur.