A dual micro-CT system for small animal imaging

C. T. Badea; S. Johnston; B. Johnson; M. Lin; L. W. Hedlund; G. Allan Johnson

doi:10.1117/12.772303

18 March 2008 A dual micro-CT system for small animal imaging

C. T. Badea, S. Johnston, B. Johnson, M. Lin, L. W. Hedlund, G. Allan Johnson

Proceedings Volume 6913, Medical Imaging 2008: Physics of Medical Imaging; 691342 (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.772303
Event: Medical Imaging, 2008, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Micro-CT is a non-invasive imaging modality usually used to assess morphology in small animals. In our previous work, we have demonstrated that functional micro-CT imaging is also possible. This paper describes a dual micro-CT system with two fixed x-ray/detectors developed to address such challenging tasks as cardiac or perfusion studies in small animals. A two-tube/detector system ensures simultaneous acquisition of two projections, thus reducing scanning time and the number of contrast injections in perfusion studies by a factor of two. The system is integrated with software developed in-house for cardio-respiratory monitoring and gating. The sampling geometry was optimized for 88 microns in such a way that the geometric blur of the focal spot matches the Nyquist sample at the detector. A geometric calibration procedure allows one to combine projection data from the two chains into a single reconstructed volume. Image quality was measured in terms of spatial resolution, uniformity, noise, and linearity. The modulation transfer function (MTF) at 10% is 3.4 lp/mm for single detector reconstructions and 2.3 lp/mm for dual tube/detector reconstructions. We attribute this loss in spatial resolution to the compounding of slight errors in the separate single chain calibrations. The dual micro-CT system is currently used in studies for morphological and functional imaging of both rats and mice.

Citation Download Citation

C. T. Badea, S. Johnston, B. Johnson, M. Lin, L. W. Hedlund, and G. Allan Johnson "A dual micro-CT system for small animal imaging", Proc. SPIE 6913, Medical Imaging 2008: Physics of Medical Imaging, 691342 (18 March 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.772303

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