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Technical Note: A model‐based sinogram correction for beam hardening artifact reduction in CT
Author(s) -
Lee Sung Min,
Seo Jin Keun,
Chung Yong Eun,
Baek Jongduk,
Park Hyoung Suk
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
medical physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.473
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 2473-4209
pISSN - 0094-2405
DOI - 10.1002/mp.12218
Subject(s) - attenuation , imaging phantom , attenuation coefficient , artifact (error) , scattering , computer science , physics , optics , materials science , computational physics , algorithm , artificial intelligence
Purpose This study aims to propose a physics‐based method of reducing beam‐hardening artifacts induced by high‐attenuation materials such as metal stents or other metallic implants. Methods The proposed approach consists of deriving a sinogram inconsistency formula representing the energy dependence of the attenuation coefficient of high‐attenuation materials. This inconsistency formula more accurately represents the inconsistencies of the sinogram than that of a previously reported formula[6][Park HS, 2016] (called the MAC ‐ BC method). This is achieved by considering the properties of the high‐attenuation materials, which include the materials’ shapes and locations and their effects on the incident X‐ray spectrum, including their attenuation coefficients. Results Numerical simulation and phantom experiment demonstrate that the modeling error of MAC ‐ BC method are nearly completely removed by means of the proposed method. Conclusion The proposed method reduces beam‐hardening artifacts arising from high‐attenuation materials by relaxing the assumptions of the MAC ‐ BC method. In doing so, it outperforms the original MAC ‐ BC method. Further research is required to address other potential sources of metal artifacts, such as photon starvation, scattering, and noise.