A statistical iteration approach with energy minimization to sinogram noise reduction for low-dose X-ray CT

Low-dose CT imaging has been particularly used in modern medical practice for its advantage on reducing the radiation dose to patients. However, excessive quantum noise is present in low dose X-ray imaging along with the decrease of the radiation dose; thus, there are obvious streak-like artifacts in reconstructed images. The statistical iterative reconstruction approach applied to the noisy sinogram before a filtered back-projection (FBP) is a resolution to deal with the noisy problem. In this paper, the statistical property of the noise sinogram was considered to achieve a satisfactory image reconstruction and a statistical iterative method with energy minimization was proposed to address the problem of streak-like artifacts. Simulations were performed and indicated that the proposed method could suppress noise and obviously decrease streak-like artifacts in reconstructed images.     

Noise reduction for low-dose X-ray CT based on fuzzy logical in stationary wavelet domain

Apparent streak-like artifacts will present in reconstructed images due to excessive quantum noise in low-dose X-ray imaging process. Dealing with the noisy sinogram before a filtered back-projection (FBP) is a useful solution to solve this noise problem. In this paper, we proposed a novel noise restoration method combining wavelet and fuzzy logical technology for low-dose computed tomography (CT) sinogram. The method first utilizes stationary wavelet transform on the noisy sinogram, namely decomposes the sinogram to different resolution levels. And then, at each decomposed resolution level, a fuzzy shrinkage filter is applied to restore the noise-contaminated wavelet coefficients. Simulations were performed and indicated that the proposed method could significantly suppress noise and reduced streak-like artifacts in reconstructed images while at the same time maintaining the image sharpness.     

The adaptive sinogram restoration algorithm based on anisotropic diffusion by energy minimization for low-dose X-ray CT

Apparent streak artifacts will present in reconstructed images due to excessive quantum noise in low-dose X-ray imaging process. Estimating a noise-free sinogram to satisfy the filtered back-projection (FBP) reconstruction is an effective way to solve this problem. In this paper, we propose a novel sinogram noise reduction method by energy minimization. An adaptive smoothness parameter based on a modified anisotropic diffusion coefficient is applied for an optimal estimation. The smoothness parameter can make the method effectively adjust the degree of smoothness according to the noise level and the region feature in the sinogram. Visual effect together with quantitative analysis of the experimental result shows the developed approach has the excellent performance in protection of the edge and removal of streak artifacts in the reconstructed image.     

Beam hardening correction for a cone-beam CT system and its effect on spatial resolution

In this paper, we present a beam hardening correction (BHC) method in three-dimension space for a cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) system in a mono-material case and investigate its effect on the spatial resolution. Due to the polychromatic character of the X-ray spectrum used, cupping and streak artifacts called beam hardening artifacts arise in the reconstructed CT images, causing reduced image quality. In addition, enhanced edges are introduced in the reconstructed CT images because of the beam hardening effect. The spatial resolution of the CBCT system is calculated from the edge response function (ERF) on different planes in space. Thus, in the CT images with beam hardening artifacts, enhanced ERFs will be extracted to calculate the modulation transfer function (MTF), obtaining a better spatial resolution that deviates from the real value. Reasonable spatial resolution can be obtained after reducing the artifacts. The 10% MTF value and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the point spread function with and without BHC are presented.     

CT图像“条状”伪影校正方法研究

在CT重建中,当断层射线衰减系数的变化呈非连续性的跳跃变化,如一种材质密度远远大于另一种材质的密度时,CT图像中高密度物质周围就会产生条状伪影。利用重投影技术分别获取高密度物质和低密度物质的正弦图,低密度物质正弦图中的数据缺失区用线性插值技术进行平滑过渡。利用两幅正弦图分别进行CT重建,然后将两幅CT图像进行相加,得到校正后的图像。实验结果表明,该方法能有效抑制条状伪影,同时提高了图像对比度。     

硬化伪影的新型表现形式及其校正

X射线硬化是导致工业CT重建图像质量下降的物理原因之一。硬化伪影通常表现为两种形式,即杯状伪影和带状伪影。描述并证实了硬化伪影的一种新型表现形式,这种伪影与真实结构相关,且分布规则,容易造成伪影与真实结构的混淆。采用线性化校正方法对该伪影进行抑制,提高了重建图像质量,改善了通过CT重建图像进行几何测量的精度。     

条纹管激光成像雷达条纹图像噪音分析与处理

从条纹管激光成像雷达的结构和成像原理出发,讨论了各种噪音来源、噪音特点、影响因素、对最终图像的贡献大小和抑制方法.通过条纹管激光成像雷达阶梯目标扫描成像实验结果分析,噪音源理论分析得到了验证.结合条纹图像处理的特殊目的,通过对比几种边界保持类平滑滤波算法,得出K近邻平滑均值滤波器具有更低的时间复杂度和空间复杂度和更好的滤噪效果,当取N=7,K=25时,可以在允许的处理时间内极大地提高条纹图像信噪比,然后,利用阈值算法有效滤除了背景噪音,最终成功地从复杂的噪音中提取到了条纹数据.这项工作为后续的目标像重构奠定了基础,并指出了下一步工作的方向和重点.     

多通道相位图像的改进型自适应重建算法

自适应重建(Adaptive Reconstruction,AR)算法被广泛应用于磁共振图像的多通道合并问题上.AR算法不需要直接采集各个线圈的灵敏度信息,而是通过通道间信号及噪声相关矩阵,估算出各个通道的灵敏度,从而保证了合并的幅值图像具有较高的信噪比(Signal-to-Noise Ratio,SNR).然而,由于AR算法没有针对相位图像的合并问题进行优化,导致重建出的相位图像具有不确定性.另外,受各通道之间相位偏移及低信噪比相位图像的影响,重建结果可能包含伪影.该文提出了一种改进型AR算法,估算并移除了各通道之间的相位偏移,同时对多通道数据的相位进行质量评估及通道重排,用以进行后续自适应重建.仿体及在体实验表明,该方法可以有效提升AR算法稳定性、消除重建图像中存在的伪影,同时保持合并后幅值图像及相位图像的高信噪比.     

A comparative study on pre-smoothing techniques for projection data with poisson noise in computed tomography

A computer simulation was performed to compare pre-smoothing techniques for noisy projection data in reconstructed (computed tomographic) images and to find suitable pre-smoothing techniques for reducing the noise in the reconstruction. Some are applied to Poison (signal-dependent) noise, and the others to signal-independent noise obtained by the Anscombe transformation of signal-dependent noise. Selective for signal-dependent noise is found to produce superior results.     

Measurement of X-ray for the dose area product and spectrum by the added filtration in Rando phantom

The most important point in the medical use of radiation is to minimize the patient entrance dose while maintaining the diagnostic information. Low-energy photons (long-wave X-ray) are unnecessary among diagnostic X-ray because they are mostly absorbed and increase the patient's entrance dose. The most effective method to eliminate the low-energy photon is use of a filtering plate. Using a filter appropriate for the image will maintain diagnostic value. Obtaining an effective image allows comparison of the resulting images in a logical objective way. This experiment was performed to determine the quality of image dosimeter when there is no filter, and when 2 mm Al, 0.1 mm Cu + 1 mm Al, 0.2 mm Cu + 1 mm Al filters are used. Using TORECK PD-8100 dose area products meter placed on top of an abdominal phantom, we measured the dose when the filter changes in this condition 85 kVp, 40 mAs, anode angle 13, source image distance 100 cm, 20 cm × 20 cm. We used the SRS-78 program for accurate comparison because we could not evaluate the difference in the image optically. The spectrum changed due to the emission of X-rays as the filter changed. We observed that the use of a filter eliminated the low-energy photons and revealed continuous X-ray and special X-ray. Therefore, the experiment highlighted the advantages of filters and confirmed that there are no changes in the quality of image through signal to noise ratio, peak signal to noise ratio, root mean square error comparison. We found that the use of filter did not lead to distortions in the image or drop in diagnostic value while minimizing the radiation dose. This means that it can help manage long-term patient dose. We conclude that we need to recommend the use of the filter as it reduces the area of dose.     

基于小波域三状态HMT模型的含噪图像增强

针对含噪图像增强问题,提出一种基于小波域三状态隐马尔可夫树模型的方法,采用三状态的高斯混合模型逼近小波系数的分布,不需要设定精确的阈值,依据期望最大算法训练得到的每个系数所属状态的后验概率,将系数区分为噪声系数、弱边缘系数和强边缘系数,然后通过抑制噪声系数,增强细节特征系数来达到对含噪图像增强的目的,并引入循环平移策略避免人工失真.通过对含噪的标准图像和人脑核磁共振图像进行仿真实验,并与几种经典的图像增强方法作视觉上的对比和定量分析.实验结果表明,本文所提出的方法具有很好的鲁棒性,在突出了图像中更多的细节信息的同时,可以有效抑制噪声.     

Speckle reduction in optical coherence tomography images by use of a spatially adaptive wavelet filter

A spatially adaptive two-dimensional wavelet filter is used to reduce speckle noise in time-domain and Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) images. Edges can be separated from discontinuities that are due to noise, and noise power can be attenuated in the wavelet domain without significantly compromising image sharpness. A single parameter controls the degree of noise reduction. When this filter is applied to ophthalmic OCT images, signal-to-noise ratio improvements of >7 dB are attained, with a sharpness reduction of <3%.     

工业CT图像边缘伪影校正

为了去除工业CT图像中的边缘伪影,提高CT图像的识别能力和尺寸测量精度,提出一种降低串扰的系数修正法。首先分析得出边缘伪影主要是由散射射线在相邻探测通道之间的串扰所导致,并给出了探测通道串扰的数学模型;然后根据数学模型设计实验方案,通过对影响串扰率的主要因素进行实验分析,得到串扰率随入射X射线能量和被测物体厚度变化关系,再通过最小二乘拟合得出投影数据关于串扰率的函数;最后利用此函数对投影数据进行校正,降低了串扰的影响。实验结果表明,探测器间一级串扰率约为9.0%,二级串扰率约为1.2%,其中一级串扰是造成边缘伪影的主要因素,采用本文方法能够有效地抑制边缘伪影,同时较好地保留了图像细节和边缘。     

基于基效应分解的多谱投影序列盲分离算法研究

在常规CT成像系统中,发出的X射线是连续能谱的,导致重建图像出现硬化伪影,影响了材料组分区分,无法进行定量表征。解决这一问题的关键在于实现多能谱CT成像,利用多个窄能谱段或单能量CT图像,提高组分与图像灰度的对应性。相对于传统CT,能谱CT具有更强的组分区分能力,有利于实现物体组分的定量分析。现有的基于光子计数探测器多谱CT在成像时间分辨率和空间分辨率存在局限,基于能谱滤波的多谱CT能谱区分度受限。而基于变电压多谱投影序列盲分离的多谱CT,通过分解连续能谱投影,获取窄能谱投影,进而实现能谱CT成像,确保物质组分与重建图像灰度值的对应性,实用性较强。但是由于X射线能谱和物体组分的未知,在盲分离过程中,衰减系数未知,并且能谱划分是不确定的,导致窄能谱CT重建图像的能量指向性不强,对应能量值与参考能量偏差偏大,影响组分定量分析。因此,针对盲分离中能谱划分不确定性和重建图像能量指向性问题的开展研究。利用衰减系数的光电效应和康普顿效应分解,构建能量约束,消除能量的不确定性,降低分解所得投影重建图像的能量与参考能量值的偏差。在基于以残差的局部方差和最小为优化目标的分解模型中,将分解模型中的衰减系数按光电效应和康普顿效应分解为能量项和材料项,利用能量项的可预知性,依据预先划分的窄能谱段设置其值,固定各分解投影对应的窄能谱段,作为对能量的约束条件。求解所得各分解投影为能量已知投影,对其重建可得到能量确定的各窄能谱段的图像。选择衰减系数相近的硅铝材质构成外硅内铝圆柱体进行实验验证,在有能量约束的求解结果中,硅铝衰减系数与参考值偏差小于无能量约束,所得重建图像中硅铝变化率与理论值趋势较一致,能量指向性强,与参考能量偏差降低。结果表明,所提方法解决了基于变电压序列盲分离多谱CT成像的能量指向问题,能谱分辨率更高,组分表征更准确。     

成像型任意反射面速度干涉仪的散斑抑制

成像型任意反射面速度干涉仪(VISAR)是激光驱动聚变实验中诊断冲击波速度的重要设备。由于采用了激光照明靶面的方式,所获得的速度条纹图中不可避免有激光散斑的干扰,严重影响动态条纹的质量。介绍了该系统的激光散斑形成原因和散斑对速度分析的影响,提出了一种频谱面滤波的方式去除高频散斑噪声的方法,并通过搭建散斑光路、合理设置滤波孔位置和大小,对该方法进行了验证。结果表明,该方法对影响条纹图的高频散斑噪声具有抑制作用,适合应用于成像型VISAR系统。     

一种八谱段滤光片成像系统设计

针对多光谱滤光片阵列成像采样率低,原始(Raw)数据稀疏所导致的重建图像模糊,高频信息丢失等问题,提出了一种新八谱段滤光片阵列分布方案,利用基于邻域梯度延伸方法对光谱Raw图像进行重建.首先基于二叉树生成法,在重复排列的4×4阵列中设计了一种等空间概率比的八谱段滤光片分布方案;然后针对传感器直接获取的稀疏Raw图像,计算各谱段采样点的梯度信息,在保持图像结构特征和纹理信息的基础上,利用邻域采样点的像素值和梯度值对未采样点进行重建,从而获得完整的光谱图像信息;最后,基于已重建的八谱段光谱图像,采用伪逆矩阵法重构各像素位置的31波段光谱值.结果表明,相对于主流图像重建方法,本文算法提高了重建八谱段光谱图像的峰值信噪比、复合峰值信噪比,降低了光谱均方差,更好地保留了图像的纹理和边缘,有效降低了多光谱滤光片阵列成像中的颜色伪影和图像模糊等现象.     

混沌信号自适应协同滤波去噪

混沌信号协同滤波去噪算法充分利用了混沌信号的自相似结构特征,具有良好的信噪比提升性能.针对该算法的滤波参数优化问题,考虑到最优滤波参数的选取受到信号特征、采样频率和噪声水平的影响,为提高该算法的自适应性使其更符合实际应用需求,基于排列熵提出一种滤波参数自动优化准则.依据不同噪声水平的混沌信号排列熵的不同,首先选取不同滤波参数对含噪混沌信号进行去噪,然后计算各滤波参数对应重构信号的排列熵,最后通过比较各重构信号的排列熵,选取排列熵最小的重构信号对应的滤波参数为最优滤波参数,实现滤波参数的优化.分析了不同信号特征、采样频率和噪声水平情况下滤波参数的选取规律.仿真结果表明,该参数优化准则能在不同条件下对滤波参数进行有效的自动最优化,提高了混沌信号协同滤波去噪算法的自适应性.     

Improving spatio-temporal resolution of infrared images to detect thermal activity of defect at the surface of inorganic glass

This paper proposes a noise suppression methodology to improve the spatio-temporal resolution of infrared images. The methodology is divided in two steps. The first one consists in removing the noise from the temporal signal at each pixel. Three basic temporal filters are considered for this purpose: average filter, cost function minimization (FIT) and short time Fast Fourier Transform approach (STFFT). But while this step effectively reduces the temporal signal noise at each pixel, the infrared images may still appear noisy. This is due to a random distribution of a residual offset value of pixels signal. Hence in the second step, the residual offset is identified by considering thermal images for which no mechanical loading is applied. In this case, the temperature variation field is homogeneous and the value of temperature variation at each pixel is theoretically equal to zero. The method is first tested on synthetic images built from infrared computer-generated images combined with experimental noise. The results demonstrate that this approach permits to keep the spatial resolution of infrared images equal to 1 pixel. The methodology is then applied to characterize thermal activity of a defect at the surface of inorganic glass submitted to cyclic mechanical loading. The three basic temporal filters are quantitatively compared and contrasted. Results obtained demonstrate that, contrarily to a basic spatio-temporal approach, the denoising method proposed is suitable to characterize low thermal activity combined to strong spatial gradients induced by cyclic heterogeneous deformations.     

Anisotropic total variation minimization approach in in-line phase-contrast tomography and its application to correction of ring artifacts

In-line phase-contrast computed tomography(IL-PC-CT) imaging is a new physical and biochemical imaging method.IL-PC-CT has advantages compared to absorption CT when imaging soft tissues. In practical applications, ring artifacts which will reduce the image quality are commonly encountered in IL-PC-CT, and numerous correction methods exist to either pre-process the sinogram or post-process the reconstructed image. In this study, we develop an IL-PC-CT reconstruction method based on anisotropic total variation(TV) minimization. Using this method, the ring artifacts are corrected during the reconstruction process. This method is compared with two methods: a sinogram preprocessing correction technique based on wavelet-FFT filter and a reconstruction method based on isotropic TV. The correction results show that the proposed method can reduce visible ring artifacts while preserving the liver section details for real liver section synchrotron data.     

显微数字全息中的3维信息重建

通过理论分析和模拟验证,研究了基于横向剪切的数字全息相位重建方法,分析并指明了详细的重建过程,提出了利用平坦区域相位数据进行线性拟合,从而获得线性相位畸变系数的方法,并指出对原始包裹相位图进行1维相位展开是横向剪切法重建数字全息相位信息的前提。对无噪声及含有噪声的全息图进行了数值重建,结果表明:对于弱噪声干扰的全息图,该方法很有效;而对于较强噪声干扰的全息图,采用中值滤波方法对原始相位图进行滤波后再重建,并对重建的相位图再次进行中值滤波,可以得到高质量的再现像;减小再现像平面抽样间隔,使剪切相位图中相邻的两个像元之间相位差的最大值小于2π,才可以获得正确的相位重建。