Spectral CT: a technology primer for contrast agent development.
Recent developments in spectral CT systems featuring binned photon-counting detector technology have enabled an imaging concept on a pre-clinical level that has been coined K-edge imaging. This exciting concept allows the selective and quantitative imaging of contrast media by exploiting the K-edge discontinuity in the photo-electric component of X-ray absorption. An ideal application for K-edge imaging is CT imaging of target-specific and conventional contrast agents that have been designed to be spectral-CT-visible. Current limitations in detector hardware, however, result in typically high noise levels that hamper the application of K-edge imaging. In order to battle noise and assure sufficient sensitivity, the development of dedicated K-edge contrast media in combination with advanced image processing techniques is imperative. This work attempts a comprehensive overview on how the concert of dedicated contrast media, optimized data acquisition and innovative data processing techniques improve sensitivity of K-edge imaging which will foster clinical translation of the technology.
Philips Research North America - Briarcliff Manor, Clinical Informatics, Interventional, and Translational Solutions, 345 Scarborough Road, Briarcliff Manor, NY, 10510, USA.
Carsten O
CO
Schirra
Bernhard
B
Brendel
Mark A
MA
Anastasio
Ewald
E
Roessl
D000042:Absorption; D000465:Algorithms; D003287:Contrast Media; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D017785:Photons; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*
D003287:Contrast Media
K-edge imaging; K-edge materials; contrast agents; energy-resolved CT; statistical image reconstruction