Use of depth information from in-depth photon counting detectors for x-ray spectral imaging: a preliminary simulation study

Yuan Yao; Hans Bornefalk; Scott S. Hsieh; Mats Danielsson; Norbert J. Pelc

doi:10.1117/12.2042839

19 March 2014 Use of depth information from in-depth photon counting detectors for x-ray spectral imaging: a preliminary simulation study

Yuan Yao, Hans Bornefalk, Scott S. Hsieh, Mats Danielsson, Norbert J. Pelc

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9033, Medical Imaging 2014: Physics of Medical Imaging; 90333E (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2042839
Event: SPIE Medical Imaging, 2014, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Purpose: Photon counting x-ray detectors (PCXD) may improve dose-efficiency but are hampered by limited count rate. They generally have imperfect energy response. Multi-layer ("in-depth") detectors have been proposed to enable higher count rates but the potential benefit of the depth information has not been explored. We conducted a simulation study to compare in-depth detectors against single layer detectors composed of common materials. Both photon counting and energy integrating modes were studied. Methods: Polyenergetic transmissions were simulated through 25cm of water and 1cm of calcium. For PCXD composed of Si, GaAs or CdTe a 120kVp spectrum was used. For energy integrating x-ray detectors (EIXD) made from GaAs, CdTe or CsI, spectral imaging was done using 80 and 140kVp and matched dose. Semi-ideal and phenomenological energy response models were used. To compare these detectors, we computed the Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB) of the variance of basis material estimates. Results: For PCXDs with perfect energy response, depth data provides no additional information. For PCXDs with imperfect energy response and for EIXDs the improvement can be significant. E.g., for a CdTe PCXD with realistic energy response, depth information can reduce the variance by ~50%. The improvement depends on the x-ray spectrum. For a semi-ideal Si detector and a narrow x-ray spectrum the depth information has minimal advantage. For EIXD, the in-depth detector has consistent variance reduction (15% and 17%~19% for water and calcium, respectively). Conclusions: Depth information is beneficial to spectral imaging for both PCXD and EIXD. The improvement depends critically on the detector energy response.

Citation Download Citation

Yuan Yao, Hans Bornefalk, Scott S. Hsieh, Mats Danielsson, and Norbert J. Pelc "Use of depth information from in-depth photon counting detectors for x-ray spectral imaging: a preliminary simulation study", Proc. SPIE 9033, Medical Imaging 2014: Physics of Medical Imaging, 90333E (19 March 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2042839

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