Initial Clinical Images From a Second-Generation Prototype Silicon-Based Photon-Counting Computed Tomography System.

Rationale And Objectives: To demonstrate the feasibility and potential of using a second-generation prototype photon-counting computed tomography (CT) system to provide simultaneous high spatial resolution images and high spectral resolution material information across a range of routine imaging tasks using clinical patient exposure levels.

Materials And Methods: The photon-counting system employs an innovative silicon-based photon-counting detector to provide a balanced approach to ultra-high-resolution spectral CT imaging. An initial cohort of volunteer subjects was imaged using the prototype photon-counting system.

Stent appearance in a novel silicon-based photon-counting CT prototype: ex vivo phantom study in head-to-head comparison with conventional energy-integrating CT.

Background: In this study, stent appearance in a novel silicon-based photon-counting computed tomography (Si-PCCT) prototype was compared with a conventional energy-integrating detector CT (EIDCT) system.

Methods: An ex vivo phantom was created, consisting of a 2% agar-water mixture, in which human-resected and stented arteries were individually embedded. Using similar technique parameters, helical scan data was acquired using a novel prototype Si-PCCT and a conventional EIDCT system at a volumetric CT dose index (CTDI) of 9 mGy.

From the bench to the press: Scholarly publishing as a career route for the scientist.

As the academic career path has become less feasible for most researchers, scholarly publishing offers a way to put scientific training to use, and to build a career while remaining in the world of research. Here I detail the path that my career took and offer advice for those interested in exploring academic publishing.

CT automated exposure control using a generalized detectability index.

Purpose: Identifying an appropriate tube current setting can be challenging when using iterative reconstruction due to the varying relationship between spatial resolution, contrast, noise, and dose across different algorithms. This study developed and investigated the application of a generalized detectability index ( ) to determine the noise parameter to input to existing automated exposure control (AEC) systems to provide consistent image quality (IQ) across different reconstruction approaches.

Methods: This study proposes a task-based automated exposure control (AEC) method using a generalized detectability index ( ).