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International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery
Published in: International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery 1/2015

01-01-2015 | Original Article

An algorithm for noise correction of dual-energy computed tomography material density images

Authors: Rafael Simon Maia, Christian Jacob, Amy K. Hara, Alvin C. Silva, William Pavlicek, Mitchell J. Ross

Published in: International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery | Issue 1/2015

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Abstract

Purpose

Dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) images can undergo a two-material decomposition process which results in two images containing material density information. Material density images obtained by that process result in images with increased pixel noise. Noise reduction in those images is desirable in order to improve image quality.

Methods

A noise reduction algorithm for material density images was developed and tested. A three-level wavelet approach combined with the application of an anisotropic diffusion filter was used. During each level, the resulting noise maps are further processed, until the original resolution is reached and the final noise maps obtained. Our method works in image space and, therefore, can be applied to any type of material density images obtained from any DECT vendor. A quantitative evaluation of the noise-reduced images using the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and 2D noise power spectrum was done to quantify the improvements.

Results

The noise reduction algorithm was applied to a set of images resulting in images with higher SNR and CNR than the raw density images obtained by the decomposition process. The average improvement in terms of SNR gain was about 49 % while CNR gain was about 52 %. The difference between the raw and filtered regions of interest mean values was far from reaching statistical significance (minimum \(p> 0.89\), average \(p> 0.97\)).

Conclusion

We have demonstrated through a series of quantitative analyses that our novel noise reduction algorithm improves the image quality of DECT material density images.
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Appendix
Available only for authorised users
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Metadata
Title
An algorithm for noise correction of dual-energy computed tomography material density images
Authors
Rafael Simon Maia
Christian Jacob
Amy K. Hara
Alvin C. Silva
William Pavlicek
Mitchell J. Ross
Publication date
01-01-2015
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery / Issue 1/2015
Print ISSN: 1861-6410
Electronic ISSN: 1861-6429
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11548-014-1006-z

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