title: The effect of a limited number of projections and reconstruction algorithms on the image quality of megavoltage digital tomosynthesis.
abstract: In order to investigate the effect of the number of projections on digital tomosynthesis image quality, images were acquired over a 40 degree arc and sampled into sets of 2 to 41 projections used as input to three different reconstruction algorithms, namely the shift-and-add, Feldkamp-Davis-Kress filtered back projection algorithms, and the simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique. The variation of several image characteristics, such as in-plane resolution, contrast to noise ratio, artifact spread, volumetric accuracy and dose, are investigated based on the reconstruction algorithms used and also the number of projections used as source data. The results suggest that the use of 11 projections along with the filtered back projection technique provides a good compromise for all aspects considered.
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Physics, CTRC at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Vikren
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sarkar
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Physics, CTRC at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Chengyu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
authors.forename: Prema
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rassiah-Szegedi
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, CTRC at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Aidnag
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Diaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, CTRC at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Tony
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Eng
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Physics, CTRC at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Niko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Papanikolaou
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D006801:Humans; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
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