Name of the inventors: James So, Zheng Feng Lu, Ajoy Dutta, Edward Nickoloff
CT Performance Evaluation on Dynamic Organ Scans Using Gated Protocols
The rapid growth in computed tomography (CT) procedures is being driven by advances in multi-detector arrays and other technological improvements capable of delivering high quality structural and functional information, non-invasively and with lower radiation doses. In recent years, CT has been extended to imaging of dynamic organs, such as the heart. The constant motion of the heart introduces artifacts in the CT image which can obscure underlying cardiac health or pathology. To address these motion artifacts, gated protocols are implemented to direct the acquisition of images to points in the cardiac motion cycle during which movement is at a minimum, i.e. diastole. At the present time, the evaluation of CT performance using these protocols is not performed as there are no evaluation tools available.
Motion Phantom Allows for Evaluation of CT Performance on Heart Scans Using Gated Protocols:
The invention is an apparatus capable of performing an objective, quantitative evaluation of CT performance when using gated protocols. The major components of the apparatus consist of a motion assembly, which mimics the motion of the heart, and a phantom capable of measuring accepted CT performance parameters. The phantom component of the apparatus can be replaced with other commercially available CT phantoms.
Applications:
• A method of evaluating CT performance when using gated protocols for cardiovascular imaging, including coronary angiography
• May be used to compare image quality across CT scanners
• Radiation dose from CT scanning is an important concern. With CT cardiovascular imaging, the radiation dose is much higher than regular CT imaging. The apparatus may be used to test radiation dose reduction features on CT Scanners, so that image quality can be optimized prior to clinical use.
• There is ongoing research to reduce motion artifacts and reduce radiation dose with advanced data acquisition and reconstruction algorithms. The apparatus can serve as a simulated patient for testing and verifying these new data acquisition and reconstruction algorithms.
Advantages:
• Provides quantitative measurements of CT performance for dynamic imaging applications
• Testing and verifying CT scanner advances in minimizing imaging artifacts
• Fine control over movement speed and direction allows optimization across conditions
• Compatible with other CT phantoms
