Evaluating image quality and optimal parameters for non-linear blending dual-energy computed tomography images of hepatic portal veins by blending-property-map
Affiliations: [a]
First Central Clinical College, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
| [b]
School of Medical Imaging, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
| [c]
Department of Radiology, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| [d]
Key Laboratory for Biomechanics and Mechanobiology of Ministry of Education, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China
| [e]
Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China
| [f]
Department of Radiology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Institute of Hematology and Blood Diseases Hospital, Tianjin, China
| [g]
School of Linguistics, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin, China
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Li Han, School of Medical Imaging, Tianjin Medical University, 9-307, 1 Guangdong Road, Heping District, Tianjin, 300203, China. E-mail: lhan@tmu.edu.cn.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:Blending technology is usually used to improve quality of dual-energy computed (DECT) images. OBJECTIVES:To evaluate the blended DECT image qualities by employing the Blending-Property-Map (BP-Map) and elucidating the optimal parameters with the highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). METHODS:Sixty pairs of 80 kV and 140 kV CT images are blended non-linearly by four methods. Protocol A uses the fixed values of blending width (BW) and blending center (BC); Protocol B uses the values of BW = (CThepatic portal vein – CThepatic parenchymal) / 2 and BC = (CThepatic portal vein + CThepatic parenchymal) / 2; Protocol C uses a BW ranging from 10 to 100 HU at an interval of 10 HU and BC = (CThepatic portal vein + CThepatic parenchymal) / 2; Protocol D uses the BP-Map that covers all possible values of BW and BC. RESULTS:When using CT value of adipose tissue as noise, the calculated SNR and CNR of optimal blending width and blending center were 123.22±41.73 and 9.00±3.52, respectively, by the BP-Map in the protocol D. By employing the CT value of back muscle as noise, the SNR and CNR of the best-blended images were 75.90±14.52 and 6.39±2.37, respectively. The subjective score of protocol D was 4.88±0.12. CONCLUSIONS:Compared to traditional blending methods, the BP-Map technique can determine the optimal blending parameter and provide the best-blended images with the highest SNR and CNR.
