The present disclosure generally relates to a CT apparatus and a method thereof, and in particular, to an X-ray detector and a collimator with special structures, a CT apparatus comprising the same and methods thereof.
Computed tomography (CT) apparatus is more and more widely used in the medical diagnosis field as well as in other fields. Typically, CT apparatus comprises a gantry and associated controllers, an X-ray source, a collimator, an X-ray detector, a data acquisition system (DAS) and a data processing system, among others. At present, an X-ray detector and the associated DAS assemblies occupy quite a large portion of cost of a CT system. Cost is quite high because most X-ray detectors use a whole-array layout of detector modules (i.e. the signal channel is full for each layer of slices).
Furthermore, a lower X-ray dose on patients brings more benefits for patient's health during CT scanning With the technological development, to lower X-ray dose on patients has become a critical issue in the manufacture of CT apparatus.
The US Patent Application No. US2002/0071517A1 discloses a detector array. The array is symmetrical both in a slice direction and in a signal channel direction and is divided into 3 areas. The number of detector modules in the left and right areas in the slice direction is reduced as compared with that in the central area, and thus the cost is reduced. However, it also reduces the number of image slices in the left and right areas. Moreover, X-ray dose on patients is not reduced during scanning
A technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to lower cost of a CT apparatus. Another technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to lower X-ray dose on patients in CT scanning A further technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to maintain the same image quality and the number of image slices with lower cost of the CT apparatus and/or lower X-ray dose on patients. And, a still further technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to enhance the image quality of a scan object's organ of interest as compared to that of other organs.
According to a first aspect of the invention, an X-ray detector for a CT apparatus is provided, comprising a plurality of detector modules which are arranged in an array along a slice direction and a signal channel direction being orthogonal to each other, the array at least comprising a left detection area, a central detection area and a right detection area that are contiguous in the signal channel direction, wherein, in the slice direction, coverage of the left detection area and coverage of the right detection area are complementary and sum of these two coverages is equal to coverage of the central detection area.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the array further comprises a left reference area being leftmost and contiguous to the left detection area and a right reference area being rightmost and contiguous to the right detection area.
According to one embodiment of the invention, sum of number of the detector modules in the slice direction in the left detection area and number of the detector modules in the slice direction in the right detection area is M; and number of the detector modules in the slice direction in each of the central detection area, the left reference area and the right reference area is M, wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to 2.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the plurality of detector modules are identical, and wherein number of the detector modules in the slice direction in each of the left detection area and the right detection area is N, and number of the detector modules in the slice direction in each of the central detection area, the left reference area and the right reference area is 2N, N being an integer greater than or equal to 1.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the plurality of detector modules comprise long modules, left and right short modules, wherein length of a long module in the slice direction is equal to sum of lengths of the left and right short modules in the slice direction, and width of a long module in the signal channel direction is not necessarily identical to width of a left or right short module in the signal channel direction.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the length of the long module in the slice direction is a double of the length of each of the left and right short modules in the slice direction, and the width of the long module in the signal channel direction is identical to the width of each of the left and right short modules in the signal channel direction.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the left detection area and the right detection area merely comprise the short modules and number of the short modules in the slice direction is N; and the central detection area, the left reference area and the right reference area merely comprise the long modules and number of the long modules in the slice direction is also N, N being an integer greater than or equal to 1.
According to one embodiment of the invention, width of the central detection area in the signal channel direction is much smaller than width of the left detection area or the right detection area in the signal channel direction.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the width of the central detection area in the signal channel direction is reduced to zero.
According to one embodiment of the invention, there are a number of said arrays being stacked in the slice direction, and all of said arrays are aligned at both ends.
According to one embodiment of the invention, width of the central detection area in the signal channel direction depends on size of an organ of interest in a scan object.
According to one embodiment of the invention, an asymmetric algorithm is used to supplement data in an area without detector modules, based on original data obtained from a scan object by the X-ray detector or data obtained by a software algorithm.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the asymmetric algorithm and/or interpolation algorithm are/is used to supplement data in the area without detector modules, based on original data obtained from a scan object by the X-ray detector or data obtained by a software algorithm.
According to a second aspect of the invention, a collimator for a CT apparatus is provided, comprising: a pair of moving shield plates for defining a scan coverage needed for a scan object; and a fixing shield plate having a window therein, wherein shape of the window is the same as shape of the array in the X-ray detector according to any of claims 1-13, so that only the X-ray to be projected onto the array can go through the window.
According to a third aspect of the invention, a CT apparatus is provided, comprising an X-ray detector according to any of claims 1-13 and a collimator according to claim 14.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the CT apparatus further comprises an image reconstructor, wherein the image reconstructor comprises: means for using an asymmetric algorithm and/or interpolation algorithm to supplement data in an area without detector modules, based on original data obtained from a scan object by the X-ray detector or data obtained by a software algorithm; and means for reconstructing an image of the scan object based on the original data and the supplemented data.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, a method for a CT apparatus is provided, comprising: obtaining original data from a scan object by an X-ray detector according to any of claims 1-13; supplementing data in an area without detector modules by using an asymmetric algorithm and/or interpolation algorithm; and reconstructing an image of the scan object based on the original data and the supplemented data.
The invention achieves the advantages of lowering the cost of CT apparatus, reducing X-ray dose on patients, obtaining the same or similar image quality as that of whole-array detector, and particularly enhancing the image quality of scan object's organ of interest.
The other objects, advantages and novelties of the present invention will become apparent through a detailed description of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The present invention is described hereinafter in more detail with reference to certain embodiments and the drawings. In order to facilitate illustration rather than to be limiting, the present disclosure sets forth particulars regarding, for example, specific structures, systems, components and the like, so that persons skilled in the art can easily appreciate the present invention. However, it should be understood that the present invention can also be practiced in other embodiments without the particulars described herein, and that the solutions described herein can be completely or partially implemented by hardware and/or software (including embedded software). The invention is not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software.
As shown in
According to the invention, detector modules in an X-ray detector are arranged in a special array. In particular, a plurality of detector modules are arranged in an array along the slice direction (Z-direction) and the signal channel direction being orthogonal to each other. The array at least comprises a left detection area, a central detection area and a right detection area that are contiguous in the signal channel direction, wherein, in the slice direction (Z-direction), coverage of the left detection area and coverage of the right detection area are complementary and sum of these two coverages is equal to coverage of the central detection area. In a practical implementation, in general, for the purposes of calibration and boundary determination and the like, the array may further comprise a left reference area which is leftmost and contiguous to the left detection area and a right reference area which is rightmost and contiguous to the right detection area.
According to the invention, the number of the detector modules in the slice direction in the left detection area may be different from that in the right detection area, but the sum of said numbers in the left detection area and in the right detection area is equal to the number of the detector modules in the slice direction in the central detection area. For example, the sum of the number of the detector modules in the slice direction in the left detection area and the number of the detector modules in the slice direction in the right detection area is M; and the number of the detector modules in the slice direction in each of the central detection area, the left reference area and the right reference area is M, wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to 2.
According to the invention, other ratios between the long modules and the short modules are possible, and are not limited to that shown in
Furthermore, the array in
As shown in
The number of detecting elements in Z-direction represents the number of imaging slices. In principle, the more the slices are, the higher the image quality is. According to the invention, the number of slices in the central detection area is the most, and can be designed as needed (e.g. 2, 4, 8, 10, . . . , 64, 128, 320, . . . );
According to a principle of the invention, in the slice direction (Z-direction), left detection area coverage (from a first to a seventh slice) and right detection area coverage (from a eighth to a twentieth slice) are complementary, and sum of the two coverages (a union of slices 1-7 and slices 8-20) is equal to central detection area coverage (slices 1-20).
It should be noted that the number of slices may be the same or be different in the left detection area and in the right detection area. When the numbers of slices in the left and right detection areas are the same, according to the principle mentioned above, the number of slices in each of the left and right detection areas is half of the number of slices in the central detection area.
As can be seen, an X-ray detector of the invention, when compared with a conventional whole-array X-ray detector (slices are full in each signal channel), greatly reduces the cost of a CT apparatus due to substantial reduction of the number of detector modules.
As shown, the core image range is located at the center of the field of view, and has a diameter D1 depending on the size of the central detection area, e.g. a width from point B to point C along the signal channel direction. Typically, the core image range should cover the scan object's organ of interest (such as heart, liver, lung and so on). In other words, in designing a detector, the width of the central detection area in the signal channel direction is mainly determined by sizes of some main organs of most scan objects.
The normal image range is an area outside the core image range and inside the field of view. The size of the normal image range depends on the sizes of the left and the right detection areas. In general, the normal image range should cover scan object's area normally scanned. In other words, in a design of the detector, the width of the left or the right detection area in the signal channel direction is mainly determined by the size of the whole body of most scan objects.
The organ of interest covered by the core image range will be imaged in a central detection area with the most slices and the better image quality; and the normally scanned area covered by the normal image range will be imaged in the left and the right detection areas with fewer slices. However, an image reconstruction method of the invention (to be elaborated later) can be used to make up data of slices being absent from the left and the right detection areas, so that the image in the left and the right detection areas can be reconstructed with almost the same image quality as that in the central detection area.
It should be noted herein that the detector array disclosed in the US Patent Application No. US2002/0071517A1 also comprises a central detection area, a left detection area and a right detection area with different quantities of slices, and scan objects' main organs are also imaged in the central detection area with the most slices. However, since the whole array is symmetrical both in a slice direction and in a signal channel direction, the special image reconstruction method of the invention cannot be applied to such a whole array to supplement missing data on the left and right, and accordingly a defect that image layers on the left and right are fewer than those in the central detection area cannot be overcome.
A conventional dissymmetrical detector needs to scan two times to achieve a scout image. However, the detector of the invention can achieve the scout image by one scan.
With use of the collimator of the invention, a moving shield plate mates with a specially-designed fixing shield plate, so that a scan object (e.g. a patient) receives far less X-ray, which is beneficial for the patient's health.
To be specific, the interpolation algorithm is mostly used in a plurality of stacked arrays (as shown in
The asymmetric algorithm mainly applies for the arrays as shown in
The asymmetric algorithm also applies for the stacked arrays as shown in
The asymmetric algorithm is detailed in Chinese Patent Application No. 201010530606.8, which is incorporated herein as a whole.
Accordingly, the detector, the collimator, the CT apparatus and the method thereof according to the invention can achieve the following technical effects:
reducing the cost of CT apparatus;
lowering X-ray dose on patients during scanning;
obtaining almost the same image quality as the whole-array detector;
enhancing especially the image quality of scan object's organ of interest.
Embodiments of the invention described herein are illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation. Although specific terms may be adopted herein, they are only used in a general and descriptive sense, and are not for purposes of limitation. The scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims and equivalents thereof
This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the preferred embodiments, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural element with insubstantial differences from the literal languages of the claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201210489759.1 | Nov 2012 | CN | national |