Spectral, Photon Counting Computed Tomography: Technology and Applications (Devices, Circuits, and Systems)

Spectral, Photon Counting Computed Tomography is a comprehensive cover of the latest developments in the most prevalent imaging modality (x-ray computed tomography (CT)) in its latest incarnation: Spectral, Dual-Energy, and Photon Counting CT. Disadvantages of the conventional single-energy technique used by CT technology are that different materials cannot be distinguished and that the noise is larger. To address these problems, a novel spectral CT concept has been proposed. Spectral Dual-Energy CT (DE-CT) acquires two sets of spectral data, and Spectral Photon Counting CT (PC-CT) detects energy of x-ray photons to reveal additional material information of objects by using novel energy-sensitive, photon-counting detectors. The K-edge imaging may be a gateway for functional or molecular CT. The book covers detectors and electronics, image reconstruction methods, image quality assessments, a simulation tool, nanoparticle contrast agents, and clinical applications for spectral CT.

Katsuyuki “Ken” Taguchi, Ph.D. is Professor in The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He has pioneered and implemented algorithms for prototypes and commercial scanners such as multi-slice CT in 1998, cardiac CT in 2000, and 256-slice CT in 2002. Due to those seminal works and his significant contribution, Dr. Taguchi has received IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society 2008 Young Investigator Medical Imaging Science Award.

Ira Blevis is Principal Scientist in Philips Healthcare developing semiconductor radiation detectors and Photon Counting CT based on them. Recent progress with the detectors led to a prototype PC scanner based on CZT which served as a basis for an EU H2020 grant awarded to develop a full size prototype for clinical use; Ira served a term as Director of the Philips Project and serves as Philips PI on the Grant.

Krzysztof (Kris) Iniewski is managing R&D development activities at Redlen Technologies Inc., a compound semiconductor detector company based in British Columbia, Canada. During his 12 years at Redlen he managed development of highly integrated CZT detector products in medical imaging and security applications.