Clinical Translation of a One-Stop-Shop Imaging Method for Abdominal CT

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ABSTRACT CT imaging is one of the primary diagnostic tools utilized in modern radiology departments, and its importance to modern medicine cannot be overstated. In recent years, spectral CT technologies have been developed to address one of the long-standing technical limitations associated with conventional single-kV CT imaging: anatomical structures with different material compositions may have the same CT number for a given acquisition. Current spectral CT imaging systems have been implemented using advanced x-ray source and/or detector technologies that enable image objects to be rapidly scanned using two distinct x-ray spectra. However, these hardware-based spectral CT systems are not without their own intrinsic limitations. Such limitations include a reduced field-of-view, slower scan speeds, misregistration between the high kV and low kV measurements in dual source systems, lack of tube current modulation for many fast kV-switching systems, and having other clinical workflow/efficiency challenges. In this application, we propose to implement and translate a novel single- kV spectral CT imaging method for abdominal CT applications that overcomes the limitations associated with current spectral CT imaging methods. With this new method, all conventional contrast-enhanced single-kV abdominal CT exams can be used to generate a deluxe series of CT images with the desired spectral CT functionalities including virtual non-contrast CT images, virtual mono-energetic CT images, and quantitative material basis images (i.e., one-stop-shop). This new method enables an integrated clinical workflow to improve clinical diagnostic accuracy while reducing both radiation dose and contrast dose to patients, all while reducing overall healthcare costs. Three specific aims will be carried out to accomplish the overarching objective of this project: 1) Implement and optimize techniques to achieve one-stop-shop single-kV spectral CT imaging for abdominal applications; 2) Validate the proposed one-stop-shop single-kV spectral CT imaging method using the hardware based spectral CT imaging methods; and 3) translate the one-stop-shop single-kV spectral CT imaging method to the clinical environment for clinical performance evaluations. Upon the completion of this project, a unique one-stop-shop CT imaging paradigm will have been implemented and translated to clinical abdominal CT exams to enable one-stop-shop abdominal CT diagnoses with just a single-kV contrast-enhanced CT acquisition. This new technique can be made available to all types of imaging facilities including community hospitals or clinics in developing nations, which is in stark contrast to hardware dual-energy CT and photon counting CT imaging which has been traditionally reserved to high profile academic medical centers that can afford the latest technological platforms.