CT-Guided system and method for analyzing regions of interest for contraband detection

A system for detecting an explosive within an article, comprising:

• an acquisition subsystem including a computed tomography scanner that produces volumetric data and serving as a pre-scan modality;
• a reconstruction subsystem adapted to identify and distinguish regions of interest from regions of no interest within an article;
• an alternate modality subsystem adapted to analyze the regions of interest to identify an explosive, wherein the alternate modality subsystem comprises a detector having a modality with a sensitivity complementary to the computed tomography scanner;
• and wherein the alternate modality subsystem does not comprise a computed tomography scanner, wherein the detector comprises an x-ray system with dual energy capability;
• and
• a transportation means for transporting the article between the acquisition subsystem and the alternate modality subsystem.

A method for detecting a contraband object within an article, comprising:

• performing a computed tomography scan of the article with a three-dimensional computed tomography scanner that produces volumetric data;
• then, distinguishing regions of interest from regions of no interest within the article through computed tomography reconstruction;
• and
• then, analyzing the regions of interest with a second modality having a sensitivity complementary to the compute tomography scanner to detect the contraband object, wherein the second modality does not comprise computed tomography,
• wherein the analyzing step is accomplished with an alternate modality subsystem comprising a detector, wherein the detector comprises an x-ray system with dual energy capability.

A method for detecting an explosive within an article, comprising:

• performing a computed tomography scan of the article with a computed tomography scanner that produces volumetric data;
• then, distinguishing regions of interest from regions of no interest within the article through computed tomography reconstruction;
• transporting the article through the computed tomography scanner to an alternate modality subsystem having a sensitivity complementary to the compute tomography scanner;
• and
• then, analyzing the regions of interest with the alternate modality subsystem without tomography reconstruction to detect the explosive,
• wherein the alternate modality subsystem includes a detector mounted on a gantry and wherein the detector comprises an x-ray system with dual energy capability.