title: CT brush and CancerZap!: two video games for computed tomography dose minimization.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  X-ray dose from computed tomography (CT) scanners has become a significant public health concern. All CT scanners spray x-ray photons across a patient, including those using compressive sensing algorithms. New technologies make it possible to aim x-ray beams where they are most needed to form a diagnostic or screening image. We have designed a computer game, CT Brush, that takes advantage of this new flexibility. It uses a standard MART algorithm (Multiplicative Algebraic Reconstruction Technique), but with a user defined dynamically selected subset of the rays. The image appears as the player moves the CT brush over an initially blank scene, with dose accumulating with every "mouse down" move. The goal is to find the "tumor" with as few moves (least dose) as possible.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We have successfully implemented CT Brush in Java and made it available publicly, requesting crowdsourced feedback on improving the open source code. With this experience, we also outline a "shoot 'em up game" CancerZap! for photon limited CT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We anticipate that human computing games like these, analyzed by methods similar to those used to understand eye tracking, will lead to new object dependent CT algorithms that will require significantly less dose than object independent nonlinear and compressive sensing algorithms that depend on sprayed photons. Preliminary results suggest substantial dose reduction is achievable.
authors.affiliation: BioInformation Technology Laboratory, Department of Plant Science, University of Manitoba, E2-532 EITC, Winnipeg, R3T 2N2, MB, Canada. bailaowai@hotmail.com.|Current address: Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Box 107, Winnipeg, Canada. bailaowai@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Alvare
authors.affiliation: Embryogenesis Center, Gulf Specimen Aquarium and Marine Laboratory, 222Clark Drive, Panacea, FL, 32346, USA. DickGordonCan@gmail.com.|C.S. Mott Center for Human Growth and Development, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, 275 E. Hancock, Detroit, MI, 48201, USA. DickGordonCan@gmail.com.|Stellarray, 9210 Cameron Road Suite #300, Austin, TX, 78754, USA. DickGordonCan@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gordon
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D012984:Software; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D018910:Video Games