title: 3D algebraic iterative reconstruction for cone-beam x-ray differential phase-contrast computed tomography.
abstract: Due to the potential of compact imaging systems with magnified spatial resolution and contrast, cone-beam x-ray differential phase-contrast computed tomography (DPC-CT) has attracted significant interest. The current proposed FDK reconstruction algorithm with the Hilbert imaginary filter will induce severe cone-beam artifacts when the cone-beam angle becomes large. In this paper, we propose an algebraic iterative reconstruction (AIR) method for cone-beam DPC-CT and report its experiment results. This approach considers the reconstruction process as the optimization of a discrete representation of the object function to satisfy a system of equations that describes the cone-beam DPC-CT imaging modality. Unlike the conventional iterative algorithms for absorption-based CT, it involves the derivative operation to the forward projections of the reconstructed intermediate image to take into account the differential nature of the DPC projections. This method is based on the algebraic reconstruction technique, reconstructs the image ray by ray, and is expected to provide better derivative estimates in iterations. This work comprises a numerical study of the algorithm and its experimental verification using a dataset measured with a three-grating interferometer and a mini-focus x-ray tube source. It is shown that the proposed method can reduce the cone-beam artifacts and performs better than FDK under large cone-beam angles. This algorithm is of interest for future cone-beam DPC-CT applications.
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Digital Radiation Imaging and Biomedical Imaging, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 100191 Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Digital Radiation Imaging and Biomedical Imaging, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 100191 Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xinhua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Lehrstuhl für Biomedizinische Physik, Physik-Department and Institut für Medizintechnik, Technische Universität München, 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Astrid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Velroyen
authors.affiliation: Lehrstuhl für Biomedizinische Physik, Physik-Department and Institut für Medizintechnik, Technische Universität München, 85748 Garching, Germany; Lund University, 22185 Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bech
authors.affiliation: School of Mathematical Sciences, Peking University, 100871 Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Lehrstuhl für Biomedizinische Physik, Physik-Department and Institut für Medizintechnik, Technische Universität München, 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Franz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pfeiffer
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D054893:Cone-Beam Computed Tomography; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*