title: Dual-energy fluorescent x-ray computed tomography system with a pinhole design: Use of K-edge discontinuity for scatter correction.
abstract: We propose a pinhole-based fluorescent x-ray computed tomography (p-FXCT) system with a 2-D detector and volumetric beam that can suppress the quality deterioration caused by scatter components. In the corresponding p-FXCT technique, projections are acquired at individual incident energies just above and below the K-edge of the imaged trace element; then, reconstruction is performed based on the two sets of projections using a maximum likelihood expectation maximization algorithm that incorporates the scatter components. We constructed a p-FXCT imaging system and performed a preliminary experiment using a physical phantom and an I imaging agent. The proposed dual-energy p-FXCT improved the contrast-to-noise ratio by a factor of more than 2.5 compared to that attainable using mono-energetic p-FXCT for a 0.3 mg/ml I solution. We also imaged an excised rat's liver infused with a Ba contrast agent to demonstrate the feasibility of imaging a biological sample.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamagata University, Japan.
authors.forename: Tenta
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sasaya
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Technology, Gunma University, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sunaguchi
authors.affiliation: School of Allied Health Sciences, Kitasato University, Japan.
authors.forename: Thet-
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Thet-Lwin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Organization (KEK), Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hyodo
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Technology, Hirosaki University, Japan.
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zeniya
authors.affiliation: School of Allied Health Sciences, Kitasato University, Japan.
authors.forename: Tohoru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamagata University, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yuasa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D061848:Optical Imaging; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed