Dual-Source Photon-Counting Computed Tomography-Part III: Clinical Overview of Vascular Applications beyond Cardiac and Neuro Imaging

Photon-counting computed tomography (PCCT) is an emerging technology that is expected to radically change clinical CT imaging. PCCT offers several advantages over conventional CT, which can be combined to improve and expand the diagnostic possibilities of CT angiography. After a brief description of the PCCT technology and its main advantages we will discuss the new opportunities brought about by PCCT in the field of vascular imaging, while addressing promising future clinical scenarios

Analysis of arterial sub-trees affected by Pulmonary Emboli

©2004 SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited. The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.535993DOI: 10.1117/12.535993Presented at Medical imaging 2004. Image processing : 16-19 February 2004, San Diego, California, USA.Although Pulmonary Embolism (PE) is one of the most common causes of unexpected death in the U.S., it may also be one of the most preventable. Images acquired from 16-slice Computed Tomography (CT) machines of contrast-injected patients provide sufficient resolution for the localization and analysis of emboli located in segmental and sub-segmental arteries. After a PE is found, it is difficult to assess the local characteristics of the affected arterial tree without automation. We propose a method to compute characteristics of the local arterial tree given the location of a PE. The computed information localizes the portion of the arterial tree that is affected by the embolism. Our method is based on the segmentation of the arteries and veins followed by a localized tree computation at the given site. The method determines bifurcation points and the remaining arterial tree. A preliminary segmentation method is also demonstrated to locally eliminate over-segmentation of the arterial tree. The final result can then be used assess the affected lung volume and arterial supply. Initial tests revealed a good ability to compute local tree characteristics of selected sites