Cardiovasc Imaging Asia.  2021 Jul;5(3):94-99. 10.22468/cvia.2021.00150.

Quantitative Evaluation of Cardiothoracic CT Image Sharpness with an Integrated Circuit Detector: Comparison between Statistical and Model-Based Iterative Reconstruction Algorithms

• Goo HW
• Lee KB

• KMID: 2519019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.22468/cvia.2021.00150

Abstract

Objective
To evaluate whether advanced modeled iterative reconstruction (ADMIRE) can outperform sinogram-affirmed iterative reconstruction (SAFIRE) in terms of image sharpness, quantitatively measured from cardiothoracic CT images acquired with an integrated circuit (IC) detector.
Materials and Methods
Thirty-one cardiothoracic CT datasets acquired with an IC detector from 31 consecutive patients with congenital heart disease were reconstructed using SAFIRE and ADMIRE. Quantitative image quality measures including image sharpness, evaluated using the distance and angle between 25% and 75% in the line density profile of the descending thoracic aorta, CT attenuation, image noise, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and contrast-tonoise ratio (CNR) were compared between the two algorithms.
Results
The distance _25%–75% and angle _25%–75% for ADMIRE were significantly smaller and higher, respectively, than those for SAFIRE (distance_25%–75%: 1.6±0.5 mm vs. 1.8±0.5 mm, p<0.001; angle _25%–75%: 77.9°±3.4° vs. 76.4°±5.1°, p<0.006). There were no significant differences in CT attenuation, image noise, SNR, and CNR between SAFIRE and ADMIRE (p>0.05).
Conclusion
Compared with SAFIRE, ADMIRE can substantially enhance cardiothoracic CT image sharpness acquired with an IC detector.

Keyword

Computed tomography; Computer-assisted image processing; Image reconstruction; Image quality enhancement; Quantitative evaluation.