Super-resolution dual-energy dental CT based on distributed x-ray source and photon counting detector

摘要

ABSTRACT With cone-beam CT's introduction in dentistry, dental clinicians could not only have profound knowledge of oral pathology but could also enhance the access to a detailed view of the underlying structures and their relations. Dental CBCT could be justified for presurgical diagnosis, preoperative planning and preoperative transfer for oral implant rehabilitation. The image quality of CBCT, however, is suboptimal and suffers from strong image artifacts stemming from excessive x-ray scattering, limited detector performance. Spatial resolution, the most important parameter objectively defining image quality, is insufficient for many dental applications where the fine details often have to be depicted. We will develop and validate a novel dental imaging system that not only fundamentally eliminates the image quality problems and but also can produce superior image resolution in 3D images. The super-resolution dual-energy Tetrahedron Beam CT (TBCT) employs a novel multi-pixel thermionic emission x-ray (MPTEX) source with wobbling focal spots as well as an energy-resolved photon-counting detector (PCD). TBCT scans the patient with a stack of fan beams that have a very low scatter-to-primary ratio (SPR); The PCD detector can count x-ray photons without electronics noises, thus can reduce radiation exposure and dental artifacts due to photon starvation; The dual-energy capacity of PCD further eliminates beam-hardening artifacts and supports material decomposition; The flying focal spots and Time-delay-integration (TDI) detection will compensate gantry motion, and super-resolution 3D images can be reconstructed with optics-model based iterative image reconstruction (IIR). Super-resolution dental TBCT will fit in the gap of high-performance 3D imaging in dentistry, allow further advancing the productivity and quality of care in dental practice. The following specific aims have been designed to accomplish this goal: Aim 1: Develop MPTEX source with variable focal spot size and location; Aim 2: To develop and validate a super-resolution dental TBCT benchtop imaging system.