An Enhanced SMART-RECON Algorithm for Time-Resolved C-Arm Cone-Beam CT Imaging

IEEE Trans Med Imaging. 2020 Jun;39(6):1894-1905. doi: 10.1109/TMI.2019.2960720. Epub 2019 Dec 20.

Abstract

Temporal resolution in time-resolved cone-beam CT (TR-CBCT) imaging is often limited by the time needed to acquire a complete data set for image reconstruction. With the recent developments of performing nearly limited-view artifact-free reconstruction from data in a limited-view angle range and a prior image, temporal resolution of TR-CBCT imaging can be improved. One such an example is the use of Simultaneous Multiple Artifacts Reduction in Tomographic RECONstruction (SMART-RECON) [1] technique. However, with SMART-RECON, one can only improve temporal resolution up to 1 frame per second (fps) which is an improvement of 4.5 times over that of the conventional FBP reconstruction. In this paper, a new technique referred to as enhanced SMART-RECON (eSMART-RECON) was introduced to enhance the temporal performance of SMART-RECON in a multi-sweep CBCT data acquisition protocol. Both numerical simulation studies with ground truth and in vivo human subject studies using C-arm CBCT acquisition systems were conducted to demonstrate the following key results: for a multi-sweep CBCT acquisition protocol, eSMART-RECON enables 4-7.5 fps temporal resolution for TR-CBCT which is 4-7.5 times better than that offered by the original SMART-RECON, and 18-34 times better than that offered by the conventional FBP reconstruction.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms*
  • Artifacts
  • Cone-Beam Computed Tomography*
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Phantoms, Imaging
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed