title: Sinogram preprocessing and binary reconstruction for determination of the shape and location of metal objects in computed tomography (CT).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop a binary image reconstruction method for the autolocalization of metallic object(s) in CT with sparse projections.
  
  
  METHODS
  The authors divide the system into two types of contents: Metal(s) and nonmetal(s). The boundaries of metallic objects are obtained by using a penalized weighted least-squares algorithm with the adequate intensity gradient-controlled. A novel mechanism of "amplifying" the difference between metal(s) and nonmetallic substances is introduced by preprocessing the sinogram data, which is shown to be necessary in dealing with a case with sparse projection data. A series of experimental studies are performed to evaluate the proposed approach.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A novel binary CT image reconstruction formalism is established for the autodetermination of the shape and location of metallic objects in the presence of limited number of projections. Experimental studies reveal that the presented algorithm works well even when the embedded metal object(s) has different shape(s). It is also shown that when the projection data are sparse, a differential manipulation of projection data can greatly facilitate the binary reconstruction process and allow the authors to obtain accurate binary CT images that would otherwise be unattainable.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Binary CT reconstruction provides a viable method for determining the geometric distribution information of the implanted metal objects in CT imaging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA. bowenm@stanford.edu
authors.forename: Bowen
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xing
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D016477:Artifacts; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008670:Metals / Q000737:chemistry*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D019736:Prostheses and Implants; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012984:Software; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D008670:Metals