A new scalable CT system architecture is introduced with the potential to achieve much higher temporal resolution than is possible with current CT designs while maintaining the flux per rotation near today’s levels. Higher effective rotation speeds can be achieved leveraging today’s x-ray tube designs and capabilities. The new CT architecture comprises the following elements: (1) decoupling of the source rotation from the detector rotation through the provision of two independent, coaxial and coplanar rotating gantries (drums); (2) observation of a source at a range of azimuthal angles with respect to a given detector cell; (3) utilization of a multiplicity of x-ray sources; (4) use of a wide-angle iso-centered detector mounted on the independent detector drum; (5) the detector drum presents a wide angular aperture allowing x-rays from the various sources to pass through, with the active detector cells occupying about 240-degrees in one configuration, and the wide aperture the complementary 120-degrees; (6) anti-scatter grids with absorbing lamellas oriented substantially parallel to the main gantry plane; (7) optional sparse view acquisition in “bunches,” a unique sparse sampling pattern potentially enabling further data acquisition speed-up for specific applications. Temporal resolution gains are achieved when multiple sources are simultaneously in view of the extended detector. Accurate data acquisition then relies on multiplexing in space, time, or spectra. Thus the use of an energy-discriminating detector, such as a photon-counting detector, and of tube pulsing will be advantageous. Volume-based scatter correction methods have the potential to apply when space multiplexing is used.

Date Published: 18 March 2015
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 9412, Medical Imaging 2015: Physics of Medical Imaging, 94120Y (18 March 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2076222

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9412:
Medical Imaging 2015: Physics of Medical Imaging
Christoph Hoeschen; Despina Kontos, Editor(s)