1. |
- Båth, Magnus, 1974, et al.
(author)
-
Determination of the two-dimensional detective quantum efficiency of a computed radiography system.
- 2003
-
In: Medical physics. - : Wiley. - 0094-2405. ; 30:12, s. 3172-82
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Based on a recently described method for determining the two-dimensional presampling modulation transfer function (MTF), the aperture mask method, a method for determining the two-dimensional detective quantum efficiency (DQE) of a digital radiographic system was developed. The method was applied to a new computed radiography (CR) system and comparisons with one-dimensional determinations of the presampling MTF and the DQE were performed. The aperture mask method was shown to agree with the conventional tilted slit method for determining the presampling MTF along the axes. For the particular CR system studied, the mean of one-dimensional determinations of the DQE in orthogonal directions led to a representative measure of the average DQE behavior of the system up to the Nyquist frequency along the axes, but a deviation was observed above this frequency. In conclusion, the method developed for determining the two-dimensional DQE can be used to determine the imaging properties of a digital radiographic detector system over almost the entire frequency domain, the exception being the lowest frequencies (< or = 0.1 mm(-1)) at which the validity and the reliability of the method are low.
|
|
2. |
- Båth, Magnus, 1974, et al.
(author)
-
Evaluation of the imaging properties of two generations of a CCD-based system for digital chest radiography.
- 2002
-
In: Medical physics. - : Wiley. - 0094-2405. ; 29:10, s. 2286-97
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Two generations of a CCD-based detector system with lens-based optical coupling for digital chest radiography were evaluated in terms of presampling MTF, NPS, NEQ, DQE, linearity in response, and SNR over the detector area. Measurements were performed over a wide exposure range and at several different beam qualities. Neither the presampling MTF nor the DQE showed any general strong beam quality dependence, whereas the NPS and NEQ did when compared at specific entrance air kerma values. The exposure dependency for the DQE was found to be considerable, with the detectors showing low DQE at low exposures, and higher DQE at higher exposures. It was found that the second generation has been substantially improved compared to its predecessor regarding all the relevant parameters. The DQE(0) at an entrance air kerma of 5 microGy increased from 9% to 15%, mainly due to a better system gain (including optical coupling efficiency and matching of the energy of the emitted light photons to the sensitivity of the CCD camera). The first generation of detectors was found to have problems with bad peripheral resolution [MTF(muN/2) <0.1]. This problem was nonexistent for the second generation for which uniform resolution has been obtained [MTF(muN/2)=0.3]. A theoretical calculation of the DQE of two model systems similar to the ones evaluated was also performed, and the results were comparable to the experimentally determined data at high exposures. The model shows that both systems suffer from low optical coupling efficiency due to the large demagnification used. The main conclusion is that although the second generation has been improved, there is still a problem with low system gain leading to relatively modest DQE values, especially at low exposures.
|
|
3. |
- Båth, Magnus, 1974, et al.
(author)
-
Investigation of parameters concerning the modulation transfer function in digital radiography
- 2001
-
In: Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering. - : SPIE. - 0277-786X. ; 4320, s. 350-361
-
Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The effects of the design of a radiographic system on the modulation transfer function (MTF) are studied with a specially developed computer program. The program simulates a digital radiographic system by using three parameters: sampling distance, sampling aperture, and the spread of the signal in the detector due to the interaction processes of the incoming photons. The signal spread is approximated by Gaussian distributions. The influence of the three parameters is studied on the presampling MTF and on the two extreme cases of the digital MTF: The maximum MTF and the minimum MTF. From theoretical data on the interaction processes, the resolution properties of an amorphous selenium flat-panel detector are simulated. The program is also used to simulate a measurement of the presampling MTF with the slit method, and the effect of the slit width on the measured presampling MTF is examined.
|
|
4. |
- Båth, Magnus, 1974, et al.
(author)
-
Method for determining the two-dimensional presampling modulation transfer function in digital radiography
- 2001
-
In: Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering. - : SPIE. - 0277-786X. ; 4320, s. 268-279
-
Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In digital radiography, radial asymmetry may be present. The use of a one-dimensional representation of the resolution properties can therefore be questioned. Although measurements are often done in two orthogonal directions, there may be a need for a more detailed description. A method of measuring the two-dimensional presampling modulation transfer function (MTF) has therefore been developed. A finely sampled "disk spread function" is obtained by imaging an aperture mask, consisting of N2 circular holes arranged in an N×N manner in an opaque material, in such a way that each hole is positioned at a different phase relative to the sampling coordinates of the detector system. This spread function is resampled, extrapolated, Fourier transformed, and finally corrected for the finite hole size in order to obtain the presampling MTF. The method was tested on a computed radiography (CR) system through measurements with a prototype mask, consisting of 100 holes of radius 0.2 mm drilled in a lead alloy. The results were compared with measurements using the slit method, and were found to be consistent. Problems associated with the method, e.g. errors due to incorrect alignment of the holes in the aperture mask with the beam, and limitations due to the finite hole size, are discussed.
|
|
5. |
- Lanhede, B, et al.
(author)
-
The influence of different technique factors on image quality of chest radiographs as evaluated by modified CEC image quality criteria.
- 2002
-
In: The British journal of radiology. - : British Institute of Radiology. - 0007-1285 .- 1748-880X. ; 75:889, s. 38-49
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Commission of the European Communities (CEC) research project "Predictivity and optimisation in medical radiation protection" addressed fundamental operational limitations in existing radiation protection mechanisms. The first part of the project aimed at investigating (1) whether the CEC image quality criteria could be used for optimization of a radiographic process and (2) whether significant differences in image quality based on these criteria could be detected in a controlled project with well known physical and technical parameters. In the present study, chest radiographs on film were produced using healthy volunteers. Four physical/technical parameters were varied in a carefully controlled manner: tube voltage (102 kVp and 141 kVp), nominal speed class (160 and 320), maximum film density (1.3 and 1.8) and method of scatter reduction (grid (R=12) and air gap). The air kerma at the entrance surface was measured for all patients and the risk-related dose H(Golem), based on calculated organ-equivalent dose conversion coefficients and the measured entrance air kerma values, was calculated. Image quality was evaluated by a group of European expert radiologists using a modified version of the CEC quality criteria. For the two density levels, density level 1.8 was significantly better than 1.3 but at the cost of a higher patient radiation exposure. The correlation between the number of fulfilled quality criteria and H(Golem) was generally poor. An air gap technique resulted in lower doses than scatter reduction with a grid but provided comparable image quality. The criteria can be used to highlight optimum radiographic technique in terms of image quality and patient dose, although not unambiguously. A recommendation for good radiographic technique based on a compromise between image quality and risk-related radiation dose to the patient is to use 141 kVp, an air gap, a screen-film system with speed 320 and an optical density of 1.8.
|
|
6. |
|
|
7. |
- Tingberg, Anders, et al.
(author)
-
Comparison of two methods for evaluation of image quality of lumbar spine radiographs
- 2004
-
In: Progress in Biomedical Optics and Imaging - Proceedings of SPIE. - : SPIE. - 1605-7422. ; 5372, s. 251-262
-
Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Purpose To evaluate the image quality of clinical radiographs with two different methods, and to find correlations between the two methods. Methods Based on fifteen lumbar spine radiographs, two new sets of images were created. A hybrid image set was created by adding two distributions of artificial lesions to each original image. The image quality parameters spatial resolution and noise were manipulated and a total of 210 hybrid images were created. A set of 105 disease-free images was created by applying the same combinations of spatial resolution and noise to the original images. The hybrid images were evaluated with the free-response forced error experiment (FFE) and the normal images with visual grading analysis (VGA) by nine experienced radiologists. Results The VGA study showed that images with low noise are preferred over images with higher noise levels. The alteration of the MTF had a limited influence on the VGA score. For the FFE study the visibility of the lesions was independent of the spatial resolution and the noise level. Discussion In this study we found no correlation between the two methods, probably because the detectability of the artificial lesions was not influenced by the manipulations of noise level and resolution. Hence, the detection of lesions in lumbar spine radiography may not be a quantum-noise limited task. The results show the strength of the VGA technique in terms of detecting small changes in the two image quality parameters. The method is more robust and has a higher statistical power than the ROC related method and could therefore, in some cases, be more suitable for use in optimization studies.
|
|
8. |
|
|