System and method of optimizing a representation of dual energy spectral CT images

A method of imaging comprising:

• obtaining a low kVp dataset and a high kVp dataset;
• decomposing the low kVp dataset and the high kVp dataset into a first basis material image and a second basis material image;
• generating a first monochromatic image from the first basis material image and the second basis material image at a first energy that is selected based on an amount of correlated noise;
• generating a second monochromatic image from the first basis material image and the second basis material image at a second energy that is selected based on an amount of correlated noise;
• noise-reducing the first monochromatic image to generate a noise-reduced first monochromatic image;
• noise reducing the second monochromatic image to generate a noise-reduced second monochromatic image;
• and
• generating a final image based on the noise-reduced first monochromatic image and the noise-reduced second monochromatic image.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a computer, will cause the computer to:

• obtain low kVp and high kVp projection datasets;
• decompose the low kVp and the high kVp projection datasets into a first basis material image and a second basis material image;
• generate a first monochromatic image from the first basis material image and the second basis material image at a keV that is selected based on an amount of correlated noise;
• minimize noise in the first monochromatic image to generate a noise-minimized first monochromatic image;
• generate a second monochromatic image from the first basis material image and the second basis material image at a keV that is selected based on an amount of correlated noise;
• minimize noise in the second monochromatic image to generate a noise-minimized second monochromatic image;
• and
• generate a final image based on the noise-minimized first monochromatic image and the noise-minimized second monochromatic image.

An imaging system comprising:

• an x-ray source that emits a beam of x-rays toward an object to be imaged;
• a detector that receives the x-rays attenuated by the object;
• a data acquisition system (DAS) operably connected to the detector;
• and
• a computer operably connected to the DAS and programmed to:
• obtain CT scan data with two or more incident energy spectra;
• decompose the obtained CT scan data into projection CT data of a first basis material and a second basis material;
• generate a first basis material image and a second basis material image using the decomposed projection CT data;
• generate a first monochromatic image from the first basis material image and the second basis material image at a first energy that is selected based on an amount of correlated noise at the first energy;
• noise-reduce the first monochromatic image to generate a noise-reduced first monochromatic image;
• and
• generate a final monochromatic image based at least on the noise-reduced first monochromatic image;
• and
• wherein the computer is further programmed to:
• generate a second monochromatic image from the first basis material image and the second basis material image at a second energy that is selected based on an amount of correlated noise at the second energy;
• noise-reduce the second monochromatic image to generate a noise-reduced second monochromatic image;
• and
• generate the final monochromatic image based on the noise-reduced second monochromatic image.

A method of imaging comprising:

• obtaining a low kVp dataset and a high kVp dataset;
• decomposing the low kVp dataset and the high kVp dataset into a first basis material image and a second basis material image;
• noise-reducing the first basis material image to generate a noise-reduced first basis material image;
• generating a first monochromatic image from the first basis material image and the second basis material image at a first energy that is selected based on an amount of correlated noise;
• noise-reducing the first monochromatic image to generate a noise-reduced first monochromatic image;
• generating a noise-reduced second basis material image using the noise-reduced first monochromatic image and the noise-reduced first basis material image and
• generating a final image based on the noise-reduced first monochromatic image.