Computed tomography quality indexes: evaluation experience

Sabina Strocchi; Cristina Vite; Raffaele Novario; Marco Cacciatori; Giovanna Frigerio; Leopoldo Conte

doi:10.1117/12.811501

13 March 2009 Computed tomography quality indexes: evaluation experience

Sabina Strocchi, Cristina Vite, Raffaele Novario, Marco Cacciatori, Giovanna Frigerio, Leopoldo Conte

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7258, Medical Imaging 2009: Physics of Medical Imaging; 72584T (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.811501
Event: SPIE Medical Imaging, 2009, Lake Buena Vista (Orlando Area), Florida, United States

Abstract

Aim of this work was to identify proper figures of merit (FoM's) to quantitatively and objectively assess the whole acquisition process of a CT image and to evaluate which are more significant. Catphan® phantom images where acquired with a 64 slices computed tomography system, with head and abdomen protocols. Automatic exposure modulation system was on, with different settings. We defined three FoM's (Q, Q₁ and Q₂) including image quality parameters and acquisition modalities; two of them (Q and Q₁) include also a radiation dose quantity, the third (Q₂) does not. Then we drew from these the comparable FoM's (CNR, Q₁ *, Q₂), that do not have dose in their definitions, in order to investigate how they depend on perceived image quality. The FoM's were evaluated for each series. At the same time, expert observers evaluated the number of low contrast inserts seen in the phantom' images. The considered CNR, Q₁*, Q₂ FoM's are linearly related to the perceived image quality for both the acquisition protocols (head: r²=0.91;0.94;0.91; abdomen: r²=0.93;0.93;0.85). Q and Q₁ values analysis shows that these FoM's can distinguish between different acquisition modalities (head or abdomen) with statistically significant difference (p<0.05). The studied FoM's can be usefully used to quantitatively and objectively assess the whole CT image acquisition process. Those FoM's including also radiation dose (Q, Q₁) can be used to objectively quantify the equilibrium between image quality and radiation dose for a certain acquisition modality.

Citation Download Citation

Sabina Strocchi, Cristina Vite, Raffaele Novario, Marco Cacciatori, Giovanna Frigerio, and Leopoldo Conte "Computed tomography quality indexes: evaluation experience", Proc. SPIE 7258, Medical Imaging 2009: Physics of Medical Imaging, 72584T (13 March 2009); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.811501

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