Methods for x-ray imaging of a subject using multiple-energy decomposition

A method of imaging a subject with n≥3 different material components t, the method comprising:

• (a) providing an x-ray source and an x-ray measuring device having at least one 2D detector with the subject therebetween;
• (b) illuminating the subject with x-rays having n different energy levels from the x-ray source, the x-rays passing through the subject to be received by the x ray measuring device;
• (c) retrieving measurements at n≥2 energy levels wherein at least one measurement is made for each of the n energy levels;
• (d) performing a calibration and establishing a database at each energy level for each material component and each combination of the material components with two or more components, with derived measurements without scatter interference;
• (e) removing scatter from measurements at each spectral level to produce images D1 . . . n for each of the n energy levels;
• (f) producing a system of n equations D1 . . . n=∫[Φ0n(E)×exp(−(μ1(E)×t1+μ2(E)×t2+ . . . μn(E)×tn)]×S(E)dE where Φ0n(E) is the energy spectra of the x-ray source at the nth energy level, n(E) is the mass attenuation coefficient of nth material component, tn is the projection mass density for the nth material component, and S is the response function of the detector;
• and
• (g) solving the equation system to produce at least one image for each of the n materials components t.