In order to obtain accurate quantitative results, flat panel detectors require specific calibration and correction of acquisitions. Main artefacts are due to bad pixels, variations of photodiodes characteristics and inhomogeneity of X-rays sensitivity of the scintillator layer. Other limitations for quantification are the non-linearity of the detector due to charge trapping in the transistors and the scattering generated inside the detector, called detector scattering. Based on physical models of artefacts generation, this paper presents an unified framework for the calibration and correction of these artefacts. The following specific algorithms have been developed to correct them. A new method for correction of deviation to linearity is based on the comparison between experimental and simulated data. A method of detector scattering correction is performed in two steps: off-line characterization of detector scattering by considering its spatial distribution through a convolution model and on-line correction based on a deconvolution approach. Radiographic results on an anthropomorphic thorax phantom imaged with a flat panel detector, that convert X-rays into visible light using scintillator coupled to an amorphous silicon transistor frame for photons to electrons conversion, demonstrate that experimental X-rays attenuation images are significantly improved qualitatively and quantitatively by applying non-linearity correction and detector scattering correction. Results obtained on tomographic reconstructions from pre-processed acquisitions of the phantom are in very good agreement with expected attenuation coefficients values obtained with a multi-slice CT scanner. Thus, this paper demonstrates the efficiency of the proposed pre-processings to perform accurate quantification on radiographies and tomographies.

Date Published: 2 March 2006
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 6142, Medical Imaging 2006: Physics of Medical Imaging, 61422B (2 March 2006); doi: 10.1117/12.649856

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6142:
Medical Imaging 2006: Physics of Medical Imaging
Michael J. Flynn; Jiang Hsieh, Editor(s)