OBJECTIVES: To investigate the feasibility of a newly developed noise reduction technique at coronary CT angiography (CTA) that uses multi-phase data-averaging and non-rigid image registration. METHODS: Sixty-five patients underwent coronary CTA with prospective ECG-triggering. The range of the phase window was set at 70-80% of the R-R interval. First, three sets of consecutive volume data at 70%, 75% and 80% of the R-R interval were prepared. Second, we applied non-rigid registration to align the 70% and 80% images to the 75% image. Finally, we performed weighted averaging of the three images and generated a de-noised image. The image noise and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) in the proximal coronary arteries between the conventional 75% and the de-noised images were compared. Two radiologists evaluated the image quality using a 5-point scale (1, poor; 5, excellent). RESULTS: On de-noised images, mean image noise was significantly lower than on conventional 75% images (18.3 HU ± 2.6 vs. 23.0 HU ± 3.3, P < 0.01) and the CNR was significantly higher (P < 0.01). The mean image quality score for conventional 75% and de-noised images was 3.9 and 4.4, respectively (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Our method reduces image noise and improves image quality at coronary CTA. KEY POINTS: • We introduce a new method for image noise reduction at cardiac CT. • Multiple data acquisitions of an object and their averaging yield lower noise. • Our method uses multi-phase images reconstructed from unused redundant imaging data. • It reduces image noise by averaging multi-phase images transformed by non-rigid registration. • This method achieves a 20% image noise reduction at cardiac CT.
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the feasibility of a newly developed noise reduction technique at coronary CT angiography (CTA) that uses multi-phase data-averaging and non-rigid image registration. METHODS: Sixty-five patients underwent coronary CTA with prospective ECG-triggering. The range of the phase window was set at 70-80% of the R-R interval. First, three sets of consecutive volume data at 70%, 75% and 80% of the R-R interval were prepared. Second, we applied non-rigid registration to align the 70% and 80% images to the 75% image. Finally, we performed weighted averaging of the three images and generated a de-noised image. The image noise and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) in the proximal coronary arteries between the conventional 75% and the de-noised images were compared. Two radiologists evaluated the image quality using a 5-point scale (1, poor; 5, excellent). RESULTS: On de-noised images, mean image noise was significantly lower than on conventional 75% images (18.3 HU ± 2.6 vs. 23.0 HU ± 3.3, P < 0.01) and the CNR was significantly higher (P < 0.01). The mean image quality score for conventional 75% and de-noised images was 3.9 and 4.4, respectively (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Our method reduces image noise and improves image quality at coronary CTA. KEY POINTS: • We introduce a new method for image noise reduction at cardiac CT. • Multiple data acquisitions of an object and their averaging yield lower noise. • Our method uses multi-phase images reconstructed from unused redundant imaging data. • It reduces image noise by averaging multi-phase images transformed by non-rigid registration. • This method achieves a 20% image noise reduction at cardiac CT.
Authors: Stephan Achenbach; Michael Manolopoulos; Annika Schuhbäck; Dieter Ropers; Johannes Rixe; Christian Schneider; Gabriele A Krombach; Michael Uder; Christian Hamm; Werner G Daniel; Michael Lell Journal: J Cardiovasc Comput Tomogr Date: 2012-01-28
Authors: Andrew J Einstein; Carl D Elliston; Andrew E Arai; Marcus Y Chen; Richard Mather; Gregory D N Pearson; Robert L Delapaz; Edward Nickoloff; Ajoy Dutta; David J Brenner Journal: Radiology Date: 2010-03 Impact factor: 11.105
Authors: James P Earls; Elise L Berman; Bruce A Urban; Charlene A Curry; Judith L Lane; Robert S Jennings; Colin C McCulloch; Jiang Hsieh; John H Londt Journal: Radiology Date: 2008-01-14 Impact factor: 11.105
Authors: Andrew J Einstein; Kevin W Moser; Randall C Thompson; Manuel D Cerqueira; Milena J Henzlova Journal: Circulation Date: 2007-09-11 Impact factor: 29.690
Authors: Katie W Hulme; John Rong; Beth Chasen; Hubert H Chuang; Dianna D Cody; Franklin C Wong; S Cheenu Kappadath Journal: AJR Am J Roentgenol Date: 2011-02 Impact factor: 3.959
Authors: Sarah Feger; Carsten Kendziorra; Steffen Lukas; Ahmed Shaban; Björn Bokelmann; Elke Zimmermann; Matthias Rief; Marc Dewey Journal: PLoS One Date: 2018-10-16 Impact factor: 3.240