System and method to obtain noise mitigted monochromatic representation for varying energy level

A diagnostic imaging system comprising:

• a radiation source configured to emit a distinct spectrum of radiation towards an object;
• a detector configured to receive the distinct spectrum of radiation emitted by the source attenuated by the object;
• and
• a processor configured to:
• obtain a plurality of optimum attenuation coefficients for an energy level at which a monochromatic image generated based upon the plurality of optimum attenuation coefficients has least noise;
• select a desired energy level to obtain a plurality of desired attenuation coefficients;
• compute a scaling factor for a corresponding noise component based on the optimum energy attenuation coefficients and the desired energy attenuation coefficients;
• generate a second monochromatic image at the desired energy level based upon the scaling factor;
• and
• add a scaled noise component to the second monochromatic image to cancel correlated noise in the second monochromatic image.

A computer readable media, comprising:

• code adapted to obtain a plurality of optimum attenuation coefficients for an energy level at which a monochromatic image generated based upon the plurality of optimum attenuation coefficients has least noise;
• code adapted to select a desired energy level;
• code adapted to obtain a plurality of desired attenuation coefficients for the desired energy level;
• code adapted to compute a scaling factor for a corresponding noise component based on the optimum energy attenuation coefficients and the desired energy attenuation coefficients;
• code adapted to generate a second monochromatic image based upon the scaling factor;
• and
• code adapted to add a scaled noise component to the second monochromatic image to cancel correlated noise in the second monochromatic image.