Image domain pansharpening method and system for spectral CT with large pixel energy discriminating detectors

A system for improving a spectral image, comprising;

• energy integrating detectors for acquiring energy integration data;
• photon counting detectors for acquiring spectral energy data;
• a data storing unit for storing the energy integration data and the spectral energy data, wherein a first flux rate of X ray entering said photon counting detectors is lower than a second flux rate of X ray entering said energy integrating detectors;
• an image reconstruction unit connected to said data storing unit for reconstructing a high-resolution panchromatic image from the energy integration data and reconstructing at least one whole low-resolution spectral image from the spectral energy data;
• and
• an image pansharpening unit connected to said image reconstruction unit for pansharpening the whole low-resolution spectral image using the whole high-resolution panchromatic image to generate at least one high-resolution spectral image.

A system for improving a spectral image, comprising;

• energy integrating detectors in a first predetermined detector size for acquiring energy integration data;
• photon counting detectors in with a second predetermined detector size with thick anti-scatter grids for acquiring spectral energy data, the second predetermined detector size being substantially larger than the first predetermined detector size, wherein a first flux rate of X ray entering said photon counting detectors is lower than a second flux rate of X ray entering said energy integrating detectors;
• a data storing unit for storing the energy integration data and the spectral energy data;
• an image reconstruction unit connected to said data storing unit for reconstructing a whole high-resolution panchromatic image from the energy integration data and reconstructing at least one whole low-resolution spectral image from the spectral energy data;
• and
• an image pansharpening unit connected to said image reconstruction unit for pansharpening the whole low-resolution spectral image using the whole high-resolution panchromatic image to generate at least one high-resolution spectral image.