Ring artifact is the major factor that seriously influence quality of computed tomography(CT)image reconstruction,especially in testing large-scale workpieces.To remove ring artifact quickly and efficiently,a kind of ...Ring artifact is the major factor that seriously influence quality of computed tomography(CT)image reconstruction,especially in testing large-scale workpieces.To remove ring artifact quickly and efficiently,a kind of ring artifact correction method is improved based on the post-processing CT image reconstruction in this paper.At first,transform the CT image from the rectangular coordinates into polar coordinates.Next,design multidimensional filter to filter the image and calculate the mean and variance of each filtered pixel in polar coordinates.The location of artifact point is determined by the double precision.One is the comparison of calculated variance and variance threshold,and another is the comparison of pixel value and pixel value threshold.Then,process the artifact points in a reasonable manner and do details remain to CT image in particular.At last,convert corrected polar image into rectangular coordinates.The actual experiment shows that compared with the original method,improved method can better correct the ring artifacts and keep the image details for CT images.It is a kind of practical ring artifact correction methods for subsequent processing and quantitative analysis.展开更多
Aim To investigate the relationship between the positioning of the lower central incisor and physical morphology of the surrounding alveolar bone. Methodology Thirty-eight patients (18 males, 20 females), with mean ...Aim To investigate the relationship between the positioning of the lower central incisor and physical morphology of the surrounding alveolar bone. Methodology Thirty-eight patients (18 males, 20 females), with mean age of 13.4 years, were included in this study. As part of orthodontic treatment planning the patients were required to take dental Cone-beam CT (CBCT) covering the region of lower incisors, the sur- rounding alveolar bone and the mandibular symphysis. The cephalometric parameters were designed and measured to indicate the inclination of lower central incisor and physical morphology of the adjacent alveolar bone. Computer-aided descriptive statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 15.0 software package for Windows. A correlation analysis and a linear regression analysis between the incisor inclination and the alveolar bone morphology were performed. Results Significant positive correlations were found between the lower central incisor inclination and the morphological contour of the alveolar bone (P〈0.05). The lower central incisor root apex was closer to the lingual alveolar crest when it was buccally inclined. Conclusion The morphology of the alveolar bone may be affected by incisal inclination.展开更多
Because of the growing concern over the radiation dose delivered to patients, X-ray cone-beam CT(CBCT) imaging of low dose is of great interest. It is difficult for traditional reconstruction methods such as Feldkamp ...Because of the growing concern over the radiation dose delivered to patients, X-ray cone-beam CT(CBCT) imaging of low dose is of great interest. It is difficult for traditional reconstruction methods such as Feldkamp to reduce noise and keep resolution at low doses. A typical method to solve this problem is using optimizationbased methods with careful modeling of physics and additional constraints. However, it is computationally expensive and very time-consuming to reach an optimal solution. Recently, some pioneering work applying deep neural networks had some success in characterizing and removing artifacts from a low-dose data set. In this study,we incorporate imaging physics for a cone-beam CT into a residual convolutional neural network and propose a new end-to-end deep learning-based method for slice-wise reconstruction. By transferring 3D projection to a 2D problem with a noise reduction property, we can not only obtain reconstructions of high image quality, but also lower the computational complexity. The proposed network is composed of three serially connected sub-networks: a cone-to-fan transformation sub-network, a 2D analytical inversion sub-network, and an image refinement sub-network. This provides a comprehensive solution for end-to-end reconstruction for CBCT. The advantages of our method are that the network can simplify a 3D reconstruction problem to a 2D slice-wise reconstruction problem and can complete reconstruction in an end-to-end manner with the system matrix integrated into the network design. Furthermore, reconstruction can be less computationally expensive and easily parallelizable compared with iterative reconstruction methods.展开更多
The accuracy of conventional superposition or convolution methods for scatter correction in kV-CBCT is usually compromised by the spatial variation of pencil-beam scatter kernel (PBSK) due to finite size, irregular ex...The accuracy of conventional superposition or convolution methods for scatter correction in kV-CBCT is usually compromised by the spatial variation of pencil-beam scatter kernel (PBSK) due to finite size, irregular external contour and heterogeneity of the imaged object. This study aims to propose an analytical method to quantify the Compton single scatter (CSS) component of the PBSK, which dominates the spatial distribution of total scatter assuming that multiple scatter can be estimated as a constant background and Rayleigh scatter is the secondary source of scatter. The CSS component of PBSK is the line integration of scatter production by incident primary photons along the beam line followed by the post-scattering attenuation as the scattered photons traverse the object. We propose to separate the object-specific attenuation term from the line integration and equivalently replace it with an average value such that the line integration of scatter production is object independent but only beam specific. We derived a quartic function formula as an approximate solution to the spatial distribution of the unattenuated CSS component of PBSK. The “effective scattering center” is introduced to calculate the average attenuation. The proposed analytical framework to calculate the CSS was evaluated using parameter settings of the On-Board Imager kV-CBCT system and was found to be in high agreement with the reference results. The proposed method shows highly increased computational efficiency compared to conventional analytical calculation methods based on point scattering model. It is also potentially useful for correcting the spatial variant PBSK in adaptive superposition method.展开更多
Objective: To determine the range and prevalence of pathological conditions and demonstration of significant anatomical structures in the maxillary sinuses using the cone beam computerized tomographic (CBCT) scan. Met...Objective: To determine the range and prevalence of pathological conditions and demonstration of significant anatomical structures in the maxillary sinuses using the cone beam computerized tomographic (CBCT) scan. Methodology: Case series of 60 CBCT scans of the maxillae. Results: Forty (67%) of the scans were of female patients while the rest (20, 33%) were of males. Remarkably, the majority of the scans were requested for those patients who sought dental implant fabrication. Overall, 35 (58%) scans demonstrated pathological features while 8 (13%) demonstrated significant anatomical structures. Pathological features included mucosal thickening in 26 (43%), polypoid lesions in 9 (15%), total antral opacification in 1 (2%) and foreign body in 1 (2%). The commonest anatomic feature was dental root protrusion into the maxillary sinuses in 8 (13%). Conclusion: The CBCT imaging is an important tool for investigating the maxillary sinuses for pathology and the demonstration of the associated anatomic relations.展开更多
Purpose: To improve the accuracy in megavoltage photon beam dose calculation in CBCT-based radiation treatment (RT) plans, using a kilovoltage cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT)-to-density-step (CBCT-SF) function. M...Purpose: To improve the accuracy in megavoltage photon beam dose calculation in CBCT-based radiation treatment (RT) plans, using a kilovoltage cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT)-to-density-step (CBCT-SF) function. Materials and Methods: The CBCT-SF table is constructed from differential histograms of the voxel values of CBCT and Fan-beam CT (FBCT). From the CBCT histograms, frequency peaks representing air, lung, soft tissue and bone are observed and their widths in CT numbers are assigned to the lower and higher bounds of the steps in the CBCT-SF. The CBCT-SF is entered into a planning system as an alternative to the clinical CT-to-density table. The CT image sets studied in this work consist of FBCT and CBCT scans of three patients: a prostate cancer patient, a lung cancer patient and a head and neck patient;and of a humanoid phantom at sections of the pelvis, the thorax and the head. Deformable image registration is used to map the patient FBCT scans to the corresponding CBCT images to minimize anatomical variations. Three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plans are made on the FBCT image sets of the patients and the phantom. The plans are recalculated on the CBCT scans using both the conventional CT-to-density table and the CBCT-SF. Dose calculations on the CBCT images and FBCT images are compared using dose differences, distance to agreement (DTA), Gamma analyses and dose volume histogram (DVH) analyses. Results: The results show that IMRT plans optimized using CBCT scans and FBCT scans agree dosimetrically within 1% when the CBCT-SF is used for the CBCT-based plans, including thoracic IMRT plan. In contrast, up to 5% dose difference is observed between IMRT plans optimized on FBCT scans and CBCT scans for thoracic cases if conventional CT-to-density table is used on CBCT images. Conclusions: The simple stepwise mapping of the CBCT numbers to density using the CBCT-SF resolves the inaccuracies in dose calculations previously reported in CBCT-based RT plans. CBCT-SF can be used in Image-Guided adaptive radiotherapy planning.展开更多
In this study,the influence of respiratory motion on Cone Beam CT (CBCT) image quality was investigated by a motion simulating platform,an image quality phantom,and a kV X-ray CBCT.A total of 21 motion states in the s...In this study,the influence of respiratory motion on Cone Beam CT (CBCT) image quality was investigated by a motion simulating platform,an image quality phantom,and a kV X-ray CBCT.A total of 21 motion states in the superior-inferior direction and the anterior-posterior direction,separately or together,was simulated by considering different respiration amplitudes,periods and hysteresis.The influence of motion on CBCT image quality was evaluated with the quality indexes of low contrast visibility,geometric accuracy,spatial resolution and uniformity of CT values.The results showed that the quality indexes were affected by the motion more prominently in AP direction than in SI direction,and the image quality was affected by the respiration amplitude more prominently than the respiration period and the hysteresis.The CBCT image quality and its characteristics influenced by the respiration motion,and may be exploited in finding solutions.展开更多
This study was aimed at developing an efficient simulation technique with an ordinary PC.The work involved derivation of mathematical operators,analytic phantom generations,and effective analytical projectors developi...This study was aimed at developing an efficient simulation technique with an ordinary PC.The work involved derivation of mathematical operators,analytic phantom generations,and effective analytical projectors developing for cone-beam CT and pinhole SPECT imaging.The computer simulations based on the analytical projectors were developed by ray-tracing method for cone-beam CT and voxel-driven method for pinhole SPECT of degrading blurring.The 3D Shepp-Logan,Jaszczak and Defrise phantoms were used for simulation evaluations and image reconstructions.The reconstructed phantom images were of good accuracy with the phantoms.The results showed that the analytical simulation technique is an efficient tool for studying cone-beam CT and pinhole SPECT imaging.展开更多
The wide availability, low radiation dose and short acquisition time of Cone-Beam CT (CBCT) scans make them an attractive source of data for compiling databases of anatomical structures. However CBCT has higher noise ...The wide availability, low radiation dose and short acquisition time of Cone-Beam CT (CBCT) scans make them an attractive source of data for compiling databases of anatomical structures. However CBCT has higher noise and lower contrast than helical slice CT, which makes segmentation more challenging and the optimal methods are not yet known. This paper evaluates several methods of segmenting airway geometries (nares, nasal cavities and pharynx) from typical dental quality head and neck CBCT data. The nasal cavity has narrow and intricate passages and is separated from the paranasal sinuses by thin walls, making it is susceptible to either over- or under-segmentation. The upper airway was split into two: the nasal cavity and the pharyngeal region (nasopharynx to larynx). Each part was segmented using global thresholding, multi-step level-set, and region competition methods (the latter using thresholding, clustering and classification initialisation and edge attraction techniques). The segmented 3D surfaces were evaluated against a reference manual segmentation using distance-, overlap- and volume-based metrics. Global thresholding, multi-step level-set, and region competition all gave satisfactory results for the lower part of the airway (nasopharynx to larynx). Edge attraction failed completely. A semi-automatic region-growing segmentation with multi-thresholding (or classification) initialization offered the best quality segmentation. With some minimal manual editing, it resulted in an accurate upper airway model, as judged by the similarity and volumetric indices, while being the least time consuming of the semi-automatic methods, and relying the least on the operator’s expertise.展开更多
In helical cone-beam computed tomography(CT), Feldkamp-Davis-Kress(FDK) based image reconstruction algorithms are by far the most popular. However, artifacts are commonly met in the presence of lateral projection trun...In helical cone-beam computed tomography(CT), Feldkamp-Davis-Kress(FDK) based image reconstruction algorithms are by far the most popular. However, artifacts are commonly met in the presence of lateral projection truncation. The reason is that the ramp filter is global. To restrain the truncation artifacts, an approximate reconstruction formula is proposed based on the Derivative-Hilbert-Backprojection(DHB) framework. In the method, the first order derivative filter is followed by the Hilbert transform. Since the filtered projection values are almost zero by the first order derivative filter, the following Hilbert transform has little influence on the projection values, even though the projections are laterally truncated. The proposed method has two main advantages. First, it has comparable computational efficiency and image quality as well as the conventional helical FDK algorithm for non-truncated projections. The second advantage is that images can be reconstructed with acceptable quality and much lower computational cost in comparison to the Laplace operator based algorithm in cases with truncated projections. To point out the advantages of our method, simulations on the computer and real data experiments on our laboratory industrial cone-beam CT are conducted. The simulated and experimental results demonstrate that the method is feasible for image reconstruction in the case of projection truncation.展开更多
<strong>Purpose: </strong><span><span style="font-family:""><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Verified the delivered dose distribution of lung cancer Stereotacti...<strong>Purpose: </strong><span><span style="font-family:""><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Verified the delivered dose distribution of lung cancer Stereotactic </span><span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Body Radiotherapy (SBRT) using the cone-beam CT images. </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Methods:</span></b></span><b> </b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Twenty </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">lung cancer patients </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">who </span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">underwent SBRT with 100 CBCT images were</span></span><span><span style="font-family:""> <span style="font-family:Verdana;">enrolled in this study. Delivered dose distributions were recalculated on</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> CBCT images with </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">the </span></span><span><span style="font-family:""><span style="font-family:Verdana;">deformed and non-deformed metho</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">d</span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">s</span></span><span><span style="font-family:""><span style="font-family:Verdana;">, respectively. The </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">planned and delivered dose distributions were compared using the</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> dose-volume histograms. </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Results: </span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">The delivered target coverage (V100) per patient inside target volume deviated on average were 0.83% ± 0.86% and 1.38% ±</span></span></span><span><span style="font-family:""> </span></span><span><span style="font-family:""><span style="font-family:Verdana;">1.40% for Pct </span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">vs</span></i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">. Pcbct and Pct </span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">vs</span></i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">. Pdcbct, respectively. The Conformity Index (CI) and Gradient Index (GI) showed a good agreement among the plans. For the critical organs, only minor differences were observed between the planned dose and </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">the </span></span><span><span style="font-family:""><span style="font-family:Verdana;">delivered dose. </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Conclusions: </span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">CBCT images were </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">a </span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">useful tool for setup and dose deliver</span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">y</span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> verification for lung cancer patients </span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">who </span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">underwent SBRT.</span></span>展开更多
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.6171177)National Key Scientific Instrument and Equipment Development Project(No.2013YQ240803)
文摘Ring artifact is the major factor that seriously influence quality of computed tomography(CT)image reconstruction,especially in testing large-scale workpieces.To remove ring artifact quickly and efficiently,a kind of ring artifact correction method is improved based on the post-processing CT image reconstruction in this paper.At first,transform the CT image from the rectangular coordinates into polar coordinates.Next,design multidimensional filter to filter the image and calculate the mean and variance of each filtered pixel in polar coordinates.The location of artifact point is determined by the double precision.One is the comparison of calculated variance and variance threshold,and another is the comparison of pixel value and pixel value threshold.Then,process the artifact points in a reasonable manner and do details remain to CT image in particular.At last,convert corrected polar image into rectangular coordinates.The actual experiment shows that compared with the original method,improved method can better correct the ring artifacts and keep the image details for CT images.It is a kind of practical ring artifact correction methods for subsequent processing and quantitative analysis.
文摘Aim To investigate the relationship between the positioning of the lower central incisor and physical morphology of the surrounding alveolar bone. Methodology Thirty-eight patients (18 males, 20 females), with mean age of 13.4 years, were included in this study. As part of orthodontic treatment planning the patients were required to take dental Cone-beam CT (CBCT) covering the region of lower incisors, the sur- rounding alveolar bone and the mandibular symphysis. The cephalometric parameters were designed and measured to indicate the inclination of lower central incisor and physical morphology of the adjacent alveolar bone. Computer-aided descriptive statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 15.0 software package for Windows. A correlation analysis and a linear regression analysis between the incisor inclination and the alveolar bone morphology were performed. Results Significant positive correlations were found between the lower central incisor inclination and the morphological contour of the alveolar bone (P〈0.05). The lower central incisor root apex was closer to the lingual alveolar crest when it was buccally inclined. Conclusion The morphology of the alveolar bone may be affected by incisal inclination.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.61771279,11435007)the National Key Research and Development Program of China(No.2016YFF0101304)
文摘Because of the growing concern over the radiation dose delivered to patients, X-ray cone-beam CT(CBCT) imaging of low dose is of great interest. It is difficult for traditional reconstruction methods such as Feldkamp to reduce noise and keep resolution at low doses. A typical method to solve this problem is using optimizationbased methods with careful modeling of physics and additional constraints. However, it is computationally expensive and very time-consuming to reach an optimal solution. Recently, some pioneering work applying deep neural networks had some success in characterizing and removing artifacts from a low-dose data set. In this study,we incorporate imaging physics for a cone-beam CT into a residual convolutional neural network and propose a new end-to-end deep learning-based method for slice-wise reconstruction. By transferring 3D projection to a 2D problem with a noise reduction property, we can not only obtain reconstructions of high image quality, but also lower the computational complexity. The proposed network is composed of three serially connected sub-networks: a cone-to-fan transformation sub-network, a 2D analytical inversion sub-network, and an image refinement sub-network. This provides a comprehensive solution for end-to-end reconstruction for CBCT. The advantages of our method are that the network can simplify a 3D reconstruction problem to a 2D slice-wise reconstruction problem and can complete reconstruction in an end-to-end manner with the system matrix integrated into the network design. Furthermore, reconstruction can be less computationally expensive and easily parallelizable compared with iterative reconstruction methods.
文摘The accuracy of conventional superposition or convolution methods for scatter correction in kV-CBCT is usually compromised by the spatial variation of pencil-beam scatter kernel (PBSK) due to finite size, irregular external contour and heterogeneity of the imaged object. This study aims to propose an analytical method to quantify the Compton single scatter (CSS) component of the PBSK, which dominates the spatial distribution of total scatter assuming that multiple scatter can be estimated as a constant background and Rayleigh scatter is the secondary source of scatter. The CSS component of PBSK is the line integration of scatter production by incident primary photons along the beam line followed by the post-scattering attenuation as the scattered photons traverse the object. We propose to separate the object-specific attenuation term from the line integration and equivalently replace it with an average value such that the line integration of scatter production is object independent but only beam specific. We derived a quartic function formula as an approximate solution to the spatial distribution of the unattenuated CSS component of PBSK. The “effective scattering center” is introduced to calculate the average attenuation. The proposed analytical framework to calculate the CSS was evaluated using parameter settings of the On-Board Imager kV-CBCT system and was found to be in high agreement with the reference results. The proposed method shows highly increased computational efficiency compared to conventional analytical calculation methods based on point scattering model. It is also potentially useful for correcting the spatial variant PBSK in adaptive superposition method.
文摘Objective: To determine the range and prevalence of pathological conditions and demonstration of significant anatomical structures in the maxillary sinuses using the cone beam computerized tomographic (CBCT) scan. Methodology: Case series of 60 CBCT scans of the maxillae. Results: Forty (67%) of the scans were of female patients while the rest (20, 33%) were of males. Remarkably, the majority of the scans were requested for those patients who sought dental implant fabrication. Overall, 35 (58%) scans demonstrated pathological features while 8 (13%) demonstrated significant anatomical structures. Pathological features included mucosal thickening in 26 (43%), polypoid lesions in 9 (15%), total antral opacification in 1 (2%) and foreign body in 1 (2%). The commonest anatomic feature was dental root protrusion into the maxillary sinuses in 8 (13%). Conclusion: The CBCT imaging is an important tool for investigating the maxillary sinuses for pathology and the demonstration of the associated anatomic relations.
文摘Purpose: To improve the accuracy in megavoltage photon beam dose calculation in CBCT-based radiation treatment (RT) plans, using a kilovoltage cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT)-to-density-step (CBCT-SF) function. Materials and Methods: The CBCT-SF table is constructed from differential histograms of the voxel values of CBCT and Fan-beam CT (FBCT). From the CBCT histograms, frequency peaks representing air, lung, soft tissue and bone are observed and their widths in CT numbers are assigned to the lower and higher bounds of the steps in the CBCT-SF. The CBCT-SF is entered into a planning system as an alternative to the clinical CT-to-density table. The CT image sets studied in this work consist of FBCT and CBCT scans of three patients: a prostate cancer patient, a lung cancer patient and a head and neck patient;and of a humanoid phantom at sections of the pelvis, the thorax and the head. Deformable image registration is used to map the patient FBCT scans to the corresponding CBCT images to minimize anatomical variations. Three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plans are made on the FBCT image sets of the patients and the phantom. The plans are recalculated on the CBCT scans using both the conventional CT-to-density table and the CBCT-SF. Dose calculations on the CBCT images and FBCT images are compared using dose differences, distance to agreement (DTA), Gamma analyses and dose volume histogram (DVH) analyses. Results: The results show that IMRT plans optimized using CBCT scans and FBCT scans agree dosimetrically within 1% when the CBCT-SF is used for the CBCT-based plans, including thoracic IMRT plan. In contrast, up to 5% dose difference is observed between IMRT plans optimized on FBCT scans and CBCT scans for thoracic cases if conventional CT-to-density table is used on CBCT images. Conclusions: The simple stepwise mapping of the CBCT numbers to density using the CBCT-SF resolves the inaccuracies in dose calculations previously reported in CBCT-based RT plans. CBCT-SF can be used in Image-Guided adaptive radiotherapy planning.
基金Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.10975187)and clinic research grant(No.LC2009B34)from the Cancer Institute
文摘In this study,the influence of respiratory motion on Cone Beam CT (CBCT) image quality was investigated by a motion simulating platform,an image quality phantom,and a kV X-ray CBCT.A total of 21 motion states in the superior-inferior direction and the anterior-posterior direction,separately or together,was simulated by considering different respiration amplitudes,periods and hysteresis.The influence of motion on CBCT image quality was evaluated with the quality indexes of low contrast visibility,geometric accuracy,spatial resolution and uniformity of CT values.The results showed that the quality indexes were affected by the motion more prominently in AP direction than in SI direction,and the image quality was affected by the respiration amplitude more prominently than the respiration period and the hysteresis.The CBCT image quality and its characteristics influenced by the respiration motion,and may be exploited in finding solutions.
基金Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(10875162)
文摘This study was aimed at developing an efficient simulation technique with an ordinary PC.The work involved derivation of mathematical operators,analytic phantom generations,and effective analytical projectors developing for cone-beam CT and pinhole SPECT imaging.The computer simulations based on the analytical projectors were developed by ray-tracing method for cone-beam CT and voxel-driven method for pinhole SPECT of degrading blurring.The 3D Shepp-Logan,Jaszczak and Defrise phantoms were used for simulation evaluations and image reconstructions.The reconstructed phantom images were of good accuracy with the phantoms.The results showed that the analytical simulation technique is an efficient tool for studying cone-beam CT and pinhole SPECT imaging.
文摘The wide availability, low radiation dose and short acquisition time of Cone-Beam CT (CBCT) scans make them an attractive source of data for compiling databases of anatomical structures. However CBCT has higher noise and lower contrast than helical slice CT, which makes segmentation more challenging and the optimal methods are not yet known. This paper evaluates several methods of segmenting airway geometries (nares, nasal cavities and pharynx) from typical dental quality head and neck CBCT data. The nasal cavity has narrow and intricate passages and is separated from the paranasal sinuses by thin walls, making it is susceptible to either over- or under-segmentation. The upper airway was split into two: the nasal cavity and the pharyngeal region (nasopharynx to larynx). Each part was segmented using global thresholding, multi-step level-set, and region competition methods (the latter using thresholding, clustering and classification initialisation and edge attraction techniques). The segmented 3D surfaces were evaluated against a reference manual segmentation using distance-, overlap- and volume-based metrics. Global thresholding, multi-step level-set, and region competition all gave satisfactory results for the lower part of the airway (nasopharynx to larynx). Edge attraction failed completely. A semi-automatic region-growing segmentation with multi-thresholding (or classification) initialization offered the best quality segmentation. With some minimal manual editing, it resulted in an accurate upper airway model, as judged by the similarity and volumetric indices, while being the least time consuming of the semi-automatic methods, and relying the least on the operator’s expertise.
基金Supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China(No.2012AA011603)National Nature Science Foundation of China(No.61372172)
文摘In helical cone-beam computed tomography(CT), Feldkamp-Davis-Kress(FDK) based image reconstruction algorithms are by far the most popular. However, artifacts are commonly met in the presence of lateral projection truncation. The reason is that the ramp filter is global. To restrain the truncation artifacts, an approximate reconstruction formula is proposed based on the Derivative-Hilbert-Backprojection(DHB) framework. In the method, the first order derivative filter is followed by the Hilbert transform. Since the filtered projection values are almost zero by the first order derivative filter, the following Hilbert transform has little influence on the projection values, even though the projections are laterally truncated. The proposed method has two main advantages. First, it has comparable computational efficiency and image quality as well as the conventional helical FDK algorithm for non-truncated projections. The second advantage is that images can be reconstructed with acceptable quality and much lower computational cost in comparison to the Laplace operator based algorithm in cases with truncated projections. To point out the advantages of our method, simulations on the computer and real data experiments on our laboratory industrial cone-beam CT are conducted. The simulated and experimental results demonstrate that the method is feasible for image reconstruction in the case of projection truncation.
文摘<strong>Purpose: </strong><span><span style="font-family:""><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Verified the delivered dose distribution of lung cancer Stereotactic </span><span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Body Radiotherapy (SBRT) using the cone-beam CT images. </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Methods:</span></b></span><b> </b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Twenty </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">lung cancer patients </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">who </span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">underwent SBRT with 100 CBCT images were</span></span><span><span style="font-family:""> <span style="font-family:Verdana;">enrolled in this study. Delivered dose distributions were recalculated on</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> CBCT images with </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">the </span></span><span><span style="font-family:""><span style="font-family:Verdana;">deformed and non-deformed metho</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">d</span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">s</span></span><span><span style="font-family:""><span style="font-family:Verdana;">, respectively. The </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">planned and delivered dose distributions were compared using the</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> dose-volume histograms. </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Results: </span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">The delivered target coverage (V100) per patient inside target volume deviated on average were 0.83% ± 0.86% and 1.38% ±</span></span></span><span><span style="font-family:""> </span></span><span><span style="font-family:""><span style="font-family:Verdana;">1.40% for Pct </span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">vs</span></i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">. Pcbct and Pct </span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">vs</span></i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">. Pdcbct, respectively. The Conformity Index (CI) and Gradient Index (GI) showed a good agreement among the plans. For the critical organs, only minor differences were observed between the planned dose and </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">the </span></span><span><span style="font-family:""><span style="font-family:Verdana;">delivered dose. </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Conclusions: </span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">CBCT images were </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">a </span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">useful tool for setup and dose deliver</span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">y</span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> verification for lung cancer patients </span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">who </span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">underwent SBRT.</span></span>