Methods for calibrating a spectral X-ray imaging system to perform material decomposition

• Main Authors: Loustauneau, Vincent, Inglese, Jean-Marc, Schildkraut, Jay S, Subramanyan, Krishnamoorthy
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 09.01.2024
• Subjects: DIAGNOSIS; HUMAN NECESSITIES; HYGIENE; IDENTIFICATION; MEASUREMENT OF NUCLEAR OR X-RADIATION; MEASURING; MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; PHYSICS; SURGERY; TESTING

The present disclosure describes methods for calibrating a spectral X-ray system to perform material decomposition with a single scan of an energy discriminating detector or with a single scan at each used X-ray spectrum. The methods may include material pathlengths exceeding the size of the volume reconstructable by the system. Example embodiments include physical and matching calibration phantoms. The physical calibration phantom is used to measure the attenuation of X-rays passing therethrough with all combinations of pathlengths through the calibration's basis materials. The matching digital calibration phantom is registered with the physical calibration phantom and is used to calculate the pathlength though each material for each measured attenuation value. A created data structure includes the X-ray attenuation for each X-ray spectrum or detector energy bin for all combinations of basis material pathlengths. The data structure is usable to perform a material decomposition on the X-ray projection of an imaged object.