TY - JOUR
T1 - Investigation of spatial resolution characteristics of an in vivo microcomputed tomography system
AU - Ghani, Muhammad U.
AU - Zhou, Zhongxing
AU - Ren, Liqiang
AU - Wong, Molly
AU - Li, Yuhua
AU - Zheng, Bin
AU - Yang, Kai
AU - Liu, Hong
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported in part by the NIH under grant R01 CA193378 , and supported in part by a grant from the University of Oklahoma Charles and Peggy Stephenson Cancer Center funded by the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust . We would like to acknowledge the support of Charles and Jean Smith Chair endowment fund as well.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2016/1/21
Y1 - 2016/1/21
N2 - The spatial resolution characteristics of an in vivo microcomputed tomography (CT) system was investigated in the in-plane (x-y), cross plane (z) and projection imaging modes. The microCT system utilized in this study employs a flat panel detector with a 127 μm pixel pitch, a microfocus x-ray tube with a focal spot size ranging from 5-30 μm, and accommodates three geometric magnifications (M) of 1.72, 2.54 and 5.10. The in-plane modulation transfer function (MTF) curves were measured as a function of the number of projections, geometric magnification (M), detector binning and reconstruction magnification (MRecon). The in plane cutoff frequency (10% MTF) ranged from 2.31 lp/mm (M=1.72, 2×2 binning) to 12.56 lp/mm (M=5.10, 1×1 binning) and a bar pattern phantom validated those measurements. A slight degradation in the spatial resolution was observed when comparing the image reconstruction with 511 and 918 projections, whose effect was visible at the lower frequencies. Small value of MRecon has little or no impact on the in-plane spatial resolution owning to a stable system. Large value of MRecon has implications on the spatial resolution and it was evident when comparing the bar pattern images reconstructed with MRecon=1.25 and 2.5. The cross plane MTF curves showed that the spatial resolution increased as the slice thickness decreased. The cutoff frequencies in the projection imaging mode yielded slightly higher values as compared to the in-plane and cross plane modes at all the geometric magnifications (M). At M=5.10, the cutoff resolution of the projection and cross plane on an ultra-high contrast resolution bar chip phantom were 14.9 lp/mm and 13-13.5 lp/mm. Due to the finite focal spot size of the x-ray tube, the detector blur and the reconstruction kernel functions, the system's spatial resolution does not reach the limiting spatial resolution as defined by the Nyquist's detector criteria with an ideal point source. The geometric magnification employed in the microCTs provide a tradeoff between field of view and spatial resolution for a wide range of applications.
AB - The spatial resolution characteristics of an in vivo microcomputed tomography (CT) system was investigated in the in-plane (x-y), cross plane (z) and projection imaging modes. The microCT system utilized in this study employs a flat panel detector with a 127 μm pixel pitch, a microfocus x-ray tube with a focal spot size ranging from 5-30 μm, and accommodates three geometric magnifications (M) of 1.72, 2.54 and 5.10. The in-plane modulation transfer function (MTF) curves were measured as a function of the number of projections, geometric magnification (M), detector binning and reconstruction magnification (MRecon). The in plane cutoff frequency (10% MTF) ranged from 2.31 lp/mm (M=1.72, 2×2 binning) to 12.56 lp/mm (M=5.10, 1×1 binning) and a bar pattern phantom validated those measurements. A slight degradation in the spatial resolution was observed when comparing the image reconstruction with 511 and 918 projections, whose effect was visible at the lower frequencies. Small value of MRecon has little or no impact on the in-plane spatial resolution owning to a stable system. Large value of MRecon has implications on the spatial resolution and it was evident when comparing the bar pattern images reconstructed with MRecon=1.25 and 2.5. The cross plane MTF curves showed that the spatial resolution increased as the slice thickness decreased. The cutoff frequencies in the projection imaging mode yielded slightly higher values as compared to the in-plane and cross plane modes at all the geometric magnifications (M). At M=5.10, the cutoff resolution of the projection and cross plane on an ultra-high contrast resolution bar chip phantom were 14.9 lp/mm and 13-13.5 lp/mm. Due to the finite focal spot size of the x-ray tube, the detector blur and the reconstruction kernel functions, the system's spatial resolution does not reach the limiting spatial resolution as defined by the Nyquist's detector criteria with an ideal point source. The geometric magnification employed in the microCTs provide a tradeoff between field of view and spatial resolution for a wide range of applications.
KW - Geometric magnification
KW - Interpolation
KW - MicroCT
KW - MTF
KW - Spatial resolution
KW - X-ray
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U2 - 10.1016/j.nima.2015.11.007
DO - 10.1016/j.nima.2015.11.007
M3 - Article
C2 - 26640309
AN - SCOPUS:84947998720
SN - 0168-9002
VL - 807
SP - 129
EP - 136
JO - Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
JF - Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
ER -