Exact fan-beam image reconstruction algorithm for truncated projection data acquired from an asymmetric half-size detector.

In this paper, we present a new algorithm designed for a specific data truncation problem in fan-beam CT. We consider a scanning configuration in which the fan-beam projection data are acquired from an asymmetrically positioned half-sized detector. Namely, the asymmetric detector only covers one half of the scanning field of view. Thus, the acquired fan-beam projection data are truncated at every view angle. If an explicit data rebinning process is not invoked, this data acquisition configuration will reek havoc on many known fan-beam image reconstruction schemes including the standard filtered backprojection (FBP) algorithm and the super-short-scan FBP reconstruction algorithms. However, we demonstrate that a recently developed fan-beam image reconstruction algorithm which reconstructs an image via filtering a backprojection image of differentiated projection data (FBPD) survives the above fan-beam data truncation problem. Namely, we may exactly reconstruct the whole image object using the truncated data acquired in a full scan mode (2pi angular range). We may also exactly reconstruct a small region of interest (ROI) using the truncated projection data acquired in a short-scan mode (less than 2pi angular range). The most important characteristic of the proposed reconstruction scheme is that an explicit data rebinning process is not introduced. Numerical simulations were conducted to validate the new reconstruction algorithm.