Three-dimensional image reconstruction by digital tomo-synthesis using inverse filtering.

Conventional X-ray tomosynthesis with film can provide a sagittal slice image with a single scan. This technique has the advantage of enabling reconstruction of a sagittal slice which is difficult to obtain from the X-ray CT system. However, only an image on the focal plane is obtained by a single scan. Furthermore, the image is degraded by superimpositions of the structures outside of the focal plane. A new three-dimensional image reconstruction method is proposed. This method utilizes a three-dimensional convolution process with an inverse filter function which is derived analytically by the point spread function of the projection and backprojection geometry. A digital tomosynthesis system has also been constructed for the purpose of evaluating the proposed method. This system was used in phantom experiments and clinical evaluations, and it was confirmed that the proposed method was able to reconstruct a better three-dimensional image with less artifacts from outside of the focused slice.