title: Improving Low-dose Cardiac CT Images based on 3D Sparse Representation.
abstract: Cardiac computed tomography (CCT) is a reliable and accurate tool for diagnosis of coronary artery diseases and is also frequently used in surgery guidance. Low-dose scans should be considered in order to alleviate the harm to patients caused by X-ray radiation. However, low dose CT (LDCT) images tend to be degraded by quantum noise and streak artifacts. In order to improve the cardiac LDCT image quality, a 3D sparse representation-based processing (3D SR) is proposed by exploiting the sparsity and regularity of 3D anatomical features in CCT. The proposed method was evaluated by a clinical study of 14 patients. The performance of the proposed method was compared to the 2D spares representation-based processing (2D SR) and the state-of-the-art noise reduction algorithm BM4D. The visual assessment, quantitative assessment and qualitative assessment results show that the proposed approach can lead to effective noise/artifact suppression and detail preservation. Compared to the other two tested methods, 3D SR method can obtain results with image quality most close to the reference standard dose CT (SDCT) images.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Image Science and Technology, Southeast University, Nanjing, China; Key Laboratory of Computer Network and Information Integration (Southeast University), Ministry of Education, China.|Centre de Recherche en Information Biomedicale Sino-Francais (LIA CRIBs), Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Luyao
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Image Science and Technology, Southeast University, Nanjing, China; Key Laboratory of Computer Network and Information Integration (Southeast University), Ministry of Education, China.|Centre de Recherche en Information Biomedicale Sino-Francais (LIA CRIBs), Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Yining
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Image Science and Technology, Southeast University, Nanjing, China; Key Laboratory of Computer Network and Information Integration (Southeast University), Ministry of Education, China.|Centre de Recherche en Information Biomedicale Sino-Francais (LIA CRIBs), Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, 210096, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Xindao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Image Science and Technology, Southeast University, Nanjing, China; Key Laboratory of Computer Network and Information Integration (Southeast University), Ministry of Education, China.|Centre de Recherche en Information Biomedicale Sino-Francais (LIA CRIBs), Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Huazhong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Image Science and Technology, Southeast University, Nanjing, China; Key Laboratory of Computer Network and Information Integration (Southeast University), Ministry of Education, China.|Centre de Recherche en Information Biomedicale Sino-Francais (LIA CRIBs), Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Limin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Image Science and Technology, Southeast University, Nanjing, China; Key Laboratory of Computer Network and Information Integration (Southeast University), Ministry of Education, China.|INSERM, U1099, Rennes, F-35000, France.|Université de Rennes 1, LTSI, Rennes, F-35000, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Louis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Coatrieux
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000465:Algorithms; D057791:Cardiac Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*