A decomposition-based CT reconstruction formulation for reducing blooming artifacts

Phys Med Biol. 2011 Nov 21;56(22):7109-25. doi: 10.1088/0031-9155/56/22/008. Epub 2011 Oct 25.

Abstract

Cardiac computed tomography represents an important advancement in the ability to assess coronary vessels. The accuracy of these non-invasive imaging studies is limited, however, by the presence of calcium, since calcium blooming artifacts lead to an over-estimation of the degree of luminal narrowing. To address this problem, we have developed a unified decomposition-based iterative reconstruction formulation, where different penalty functions are imposed on dense objects (i.e. calcium) and soft tissue. The result is a quantifiable reduction in blooming artifacts without the introduction of new distortions away from the blooming observed in other methods. Results are shown for simulations, phantoms, ex vivo, and in vivo studies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Artifacts
  • Calcium / analysis
  • Calcium / metabolism
  • Computer Simulation
  • Heart / diagnostic imaging*
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Phantoms, Imaging
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed / methods*

Substances

  • Calcium