Ti Bai

Towards the clinical implementation of iterative low-dose cone-beam CT reconstruction in image-guided radiation therapy: Cone/ring artifact correction and multiple GPU implementation

PURPOSE Compressed sensing (CS)-based iterative reconstruction (IR) techniques are able to reconstruct cone-beam CT (CBCT) images from undersampled noisy data, allowing for imaging dose reduction. However, there are a few practical concerns preventing the clinical implementation of these techniques. On the image quality side, data truncation along the superior-inferior direction under the cone-beam geometry produces severe cone artifacts in the reconstructed images. Ring artifacts are also seen in the half-fan scan mode. On the reconstruction efficiency side, the long computation time hinders clinical use in image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT). METHODS Image quality improvement methods are proposed to mitigate the cone and ring image artifacts in IR. The basic idea is to use weighting factors in the IR data fidelity term to improve projection data consistency with the reconstructed volume. In order to improve the computational efficiency, a multiple graphics processing units (GPUs)-based CS-IR system was developed. The parallelization scheme, detailed analyses of computation time at each step, their relationship with image resolution, and the acceleration factors were studied. The whole system was evaluated in various phantom and patient cases. RESULTS Ring artifacts can be mitigated by properly designing a weighting factor as a function of the spatial location on the detector. As for the cone artifact, without applying a correction method, it contaminated 13 out of 80 slices in a head-neck case (full-fan). Contamination was even more severe in a pelvis case under half-fan mode, where 36 out of 80 slices were affected, leading to poorer soft tissue delineation and reduced superior-inferior coverage. The proposed method effectively corrects those contaminated slices with mean intensity differences compared to FDK results decreasing from ∼497 and ∼293 HU to ∼39 and ∼27 HU for the full-fan and half-fan cases, respectively. In terms of efficiency boost, an overall 3.1 × speedup factor has been achieved with four GPU cards compared to a single GPU-based reconstruction. The total computation time is ∼30 s for typical clinical cases. CONCLUSIONS The authors have developed a low-dose CBCT IR system for IGRT. By incorporating data consistency-based weighting factors in the IR model, cone/ring artifacts can be mitigated. A boost in computational efficiency is achieved by multi-GPU implementation.

A practical cone-beam CT scatter correction method with optimized Monte Carlo simulations for image-guided radiation therapy

Cone-beam CT (CBCT) has become the standard image guidance tool for patient setup in image-guided radiation therapy. However, due to its large illumination field, scattered photons severely degrade its image quality. While kernel-based scatter correction methods have been used routinely in the clinic, it is still desirable to develop Monte Carlo (MC) simulation-based methods due to their accuracy. However, the high computational burden of the MC method has prevented routine clinical application. This paper reports our recent development of a practical method of MC-based scatter estimation and removal for CBCT. In contrast with conventional MC approaches that estimate scatter signals using a scatter-contaminated CBCT image, our method used a planning CT image for MC simulation, which has the advantages of accurate image intensity and absence of image truncation. In our method, the planning CT was first rigidly registered with the CBCT. Scatter signals were then estimated via MC simulation. After scatter signals were removed from the raw CBCT projections, a corrected CBCT image was reconstructed. The entire workflow was implemented on a GPU platform for high computational efficiency. Strategies such as projection denoising, CT image downsampling, and interpolation along the angular direction were employed to further enhance the calculation speed. We studied the impact of key parameters in the workflow on the resulting accuracy and efficiency, based on which the optimal parameter values were determined. Our method was evaluated in numerical simulation, phantom, and real patient cases. In the simulation cases, our method reduced mean HU errors from 44 to 3 HU and from 78 to 9 HU in the full-fan and the half-fan cases, respectively. In both the phantom and the patient cases, image artifacts caused by scatter, such as ring artifacts around the bowtie area, were reduced. With all the techniques employed, we achieved computation time of less than 30 s including the time for both the scatter estimation and CBCT reconstruction steps. The efficacy of our method and its high computational efficiency make our method attractive for clinical use.

Dictionary learning based low-dose x-ray CT reconstruction using a balancing principle

The high utility and wide applicability of x-ray imaging has led to a rapidly increased number of CT scans over the past years, and at the same time an elevated public concern on the potential risk of x-ray radiation to patients. Hence, a hot topic is how to minimize x-ray dose while maintaining the image quality. The low-dose CT strategies include modulation of x-ray flux and minimization of dataset size. However, these methods will produce noisy and insufficient projection data, which represents a great challenge to image reconstruction. Our team has been working to combine statistical iterative methods and advanced image processing techniques, especially dictionary learning, and have produced excellent preliminary results. In this paper, we report recent progress in dictionary learning based low-dose CT reconstruction, and discuss the selection of regularization parameters that are crucial for the algorithmic optimization. The key idea is to use a “balancing principle” based on a model function to choose the regularization parameters during the iterative process, and to determine a weight factor empirically for address the noise level in the projection domain. Numerical and experimental results demonstrate the merits of our proposed reconstruction approach.

Low-dose CT reconstruction based on multiscale dictionary

Statistical CT reconstruction using penalized weighted least-squares(PWLS) criteria can improve image-quality in low-dose CT reconstruction. A suitable design of regularization term can benefit it very much. Recently, sparse representation based on dictionary learning has been treated as the regularization term and results in a high quality reconstruction. In this paper, we incorporated a multiscale dictionary into statistical CT reconstruction, which can keep more details compared with the reconstruction based on singlescale dictionary. Further more, we exploited reweigted l1 norm minimization for sparse coding, which performs better than I norm minimization in locating the sparse solution of underdetermined linear systems of equations. To mitigate the time consuming process that computing the gradiant of regularization term, we adopted the so-called double surrogates method to accelerate ordered-subsets image reconstruction. Experiments showed that combining multiscale dictionary and reweighted l1 norm minimization can result in a reconstruction superior to that bases on singlescale dictionary and l1 norm minimization.

Z-Index Parameterization for Volumetric CT Image Reconstruction via 3-D Dictionary Learning

Despite the rapid developments of X-ray cone-beam CT (CBCT), image noise still remains a major issue for the low dose CBCT. To suppress the noise effectively while retain the structures well for low dose CBCT image, in this paper, a sparse constraint based on the 3-D dictionary is incorporated into a regularized iterative reconstruction framework, defining the 3-D dictionary learning (3-DDL) method. In addition, by analyzing the sparsity level curve associated with different regularization parameters, a new adaptive parameter selection strategy is proposed to facilitate our 3-DDL method. To justify the proposed method, we first analyze the distributions of the representation coefficients associated with the 3-D dictionary and the conventional 2-D dictionary to compare their efficiencies in representing volumetric images. Then, multiple real data experiments are conducted for performance validation. Based on these results, we found: 1) the 3-D dictionary-based sparse coefficients have three orders narrower Laplacian distribution compared with the 2-D dictionary, suggesting the higher representation efficiencies of the 3-D dictionary; 2) the sparsity level curve demonstrates a clear Z-shape, and hence referred to as Z-curve, in this paper; 3) the parameter associated with the maximum curvature point of the Z-curve suggests a nice parameter choice, which could be adaptively located with the proposed Z-index parameterization (ZIP) method; 4) the proposed 3-DDL algorithm equipped with the ZIP method could deliver reconstructions with the lowest root mean squared errors and the highest structural similarity index compared with the competing methods; 5) similar noise performance as the regular dose FDK reconstruction regarding the standard deviation metric could be achieved with the proposed method using (1/2)/(1/4)/(1/8) dose level projections. The contrast-noise ratio is improved by ~2.5/3.5 times with respect to two different cases under the (1/8) dose level compared with the low dose FDK reconstruction. The proposed method is expected to reduce the radiation dose by a factor of 8 for CBCT, considering the voted strongly discriminated low contrast tissues.

Data correlation based noise level estimation for cone beam projection data

BACKGROUND In regularized iterative reconstruction algorithms, the selection of regularization parameter depends on the noise level of cone beam projection data. OBJECTIVE Our aim is to propose an algorithm to estimate the noise level of cone beam projection data. METHODS We first derived the data correlation of cone beam projection data in the Fourier domain, based on which, the signal and the noise were decoupled. Then the noise was extracted and averaged for estimation. An adaptive regularization parameter selection strategy was introduced based on the estimated noise level. Simulation and real data studies were conducted for performance validation. RESULTS There exists an approximately zero-energy double-wedge area in the 3D Fourier domain of cone beam projection data. As for the noise level estimation results, the averaged relative errors of the proposed algorithm in the analytical/MC/spotlight-mode simulation experiments were 0.8%, 0.14% and 0.24%, respectively, and outperformed the homogeneous area based as well as the transformation based algorithms. Real studies indicated that the estimated noise levels were inversely proportional to the exposure levels, i.e., the slopes in the log-log plot were -1.0197 and -1.049 with respect to the short-scan and half-fan modes. The introduced regularization parameter selection strategy could deliver promising reconstructed image qualities. CONCLUSIONS Based on the data correlation of cone beam projection data in Fourier domain, the proposed algorithm could estimate the noise level of cone beam projection data accurately and robustly. The estimated noise level could be used to adaptively select the regularization parameter.

WE-G-18A-04: 3D Dictionary Learning Based Statistical Iterative Reconstruction for Low-Dose Cone Beam CT Imaging

PURPOSE To develop a 3D dictionary learning based statistical reconstruction algorithm on graphic processing units (GPU), to improve the quality of low-dose cone beam CT (CBCT) imaging with high efficiency. METHODS A 3D dictionary containing 256 small volumes (atoms) of 3×3×3 voxels was trained from a high quality volume image. During reconstruction, we utilized a Cholesky decomposition based orthogonal matching pursuit algorithm to find a sparse representation on this dictionary basis of each patch in the reconstructed image, in order to regularize the image quality. To accelerate the time-consuming sparse coding in the 3D case, we implemented our algorithm in a parallel fashion by taking advantage of the tremendous computational power of GPU. Evaluations are performed based on a head-neck patient case. FDK reconstruction with full dataset of 364 projections is used as the reference. We compared the proposed 3D dictionary learning based method with a tight frame (TF) based one using a subset data of 121 projections. The image qualities under different resolutions in z-direction, with or without statistical weighting are also studied. RESULTS Compared to the TF-based CBCT reconstruction, our experiments indicated that 3D dictionary learning based CBCT reconstruction is able to recover finer structures, to remove more streaking artifacts, and is less susceptible to blocky artifacts. It is also observed that statistical reconstruction approach is sensitive to inconsistency between the forward and backward projection operations in parallel computing. Using high a spatial resolution along z direction helps improving the algorithm robustness. CONCLUSION 3D dictionary learning based CBCT reconstruction algorithm is able to sense the structural information while suppressing noise, and hence to achieve high quality reconstruction. The GPU realization of the whole algorithm offers a significant efficiency enhancement, making this algorithm more feasible for potential clinical application. A high zresolution is preferred to stabilize statistical iterative reconstruction. This work was supported in part by NIH(1R01CA154747-01), NSFC((No. 61172163), Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (No. 20110201110011), China Scholarship Council.

A denoising auto-encoder based on projection domain for low dose CT

There are growing concerns on the effect of the radiation, which can be decreased by reducing X-ray tube current. However, this manner will lead to the degraded image due to the quantum noise. In order to alleviate the problem, multiple methods have been explored both during reconstruction and in post-processing. Recently, Denoising Auto-Encoder(DAE) has drawn much attention which can generate clean images from corrupted input. Inspired by the idea of DAE, during the low dose acquisition, the noisy projection can be regarded as corrupted images. In this paper, we proposed a denoising method based on projection domain. First, the DAE is train from stimulation noisy data coupled with original data. Then utilize the DAE to correct noisy projection and get denoised image from statistical iterative reconstruction. With the implement of DAE in projection domain, the reconstructions show clearer details in soft tissue and have higher SSIM (structural similarity index) than other denoising methods in image domain.

Low-dose computed tomography image reconstruction via structure tensor total variation regularization

The X-ray computer tomography (CT) scanner has been extensively used in medical diagnosis. How to reduce radiation dose exposure while maintain high image reconstruction quality has become a major concern in the CT field. In this paper, we propose a statistical iterative reconstruction framework based on structure tensor total variation regularization for low dose CT imaging. An accelerated proximal forward-backward splitting (APFBS) algorithm is developed to optimize the associated cost function. The experiments on two physical phantoms demonstrate that our proposed algorithm outperforms other existing algorithms such as statistical iterative reconstruction with total variation regularizer and filtered back projection (FBP).

Algorithmic scatter correction based on physical model and statistical iterative reconstruction for dual energy cone beam CT

Dual energy cone beam computed tomography (DE-CBCT) can provide more accurate material characterization than conventional CT by taking advantages of two sets of projections with high and low energies. X-ray scatter leads to erroneous values of the DE-CBCT reconstructed images. Moreover, the reconstructed image of DECT is extremely sensitive to noise. Iterative reconstruction methods using regularization are capable to suppress the noise effects and hence improve the image quality. In this paper, we develop an algorithmic scatter correction based on physical model and statistical iterative reconstruction for DE-CBCT. With the assumption that the attenuation coefficients of the soft tissues are relatively stable and uniform and the scatter component is dominated by low frequency signal, scatter components were calculated while updating the reconstructed images in each iteration. Finally, the CBCT image was reconstructed by scatter corrected projections using statistical iterative reconstruction algorithm. Experiment shows that the proposed method can effectively remove the artifacts caused by x-ray scatter. The CT value accuracy in the reconstructed images has been improved.