[Low-dose CT angiography image restoration using normal dose scan-induced non-local means algorithm].
OBJECTIVE
To minimize of the radiation dose of cardiovascular CT angiography (CTA) imaging while preserving the image quality.


METHODS
To reduce the radiation dose in CTA imaging, the normal-dose scan induced non-local means (ndiNLM) algorithm was adapted for low-mAs scanned CTA image restoration by using the previous scanned high-quality image.


RESULTS
Qualitative and quantitative evaluations were carried out on both simulated phantom and clinical CTA scans in terms of accuracy and resolution properties. Compared to the original NLM algorithm, the ndiNLM method could achieve noticeable gains in terms of noise-induced artifacts suppression and enhanced structure preservation.


CONCLUSIONS
The ndiNLM algorithm is a potential useful technique to reduce the radiation dose in CTA imaging.
School of Biomedical Engineering, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China.E-mail: ywzh2011@smu.edu.cn.
Yunwan
Y
Zhang
Yang
Y
Liu
Jing
J
Huang
Dong
D
Zeng
Zhaoying
Z
Bian
Hua
H
Zhang
Jianhua
J
Ma
D000465:Algorithms; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed