TY - JOUR
T1 - Dual- and multi-energy CT
T2 - Principles, technical approaches, and clinical applications
AU - McCollough, Cynthia H.
AU - Leng, Shuai
AU - Yu, Lifeng
AU - Fletcher, Joel G.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2015 Radiological Society of North America.
PY - 2015/9/1
Y1 - 2015/9/1
N2 - In x-ray computed tomography (CT), materials having different elemental compositions can be represented by identical pixel values on a CT image (ie, CT numbers), depending on the mass density of the material. Thus, the differentiation and classification of different tissue types and contrast agents can be extremely challenging. In dual-energy CT, an additional attenuation measurement is obtained with a second x-ray spectrum (ie, a second "energy"), allowing the differentiation of multiple materials. Alternatively, this allows quantification of the mass density of two or three materials in a mixture with known elemental composition. Recent advances in the use of energy-resolving, photon-counting detectors for CT imaging suggest the ability to acquire data in multiple energy bins, which is expected to further improve the signal-tonoise ratio for material-specific imaging. In this review, the underlying motivation and physical principles of dualor multi-energy CT are reviewed and each of the current technical approaches is described. In addition, current and evolving clinical applications are introduced.
AB - In x-ray computed tomography (CT), materials having different elemental compositions can be represented by identical pixel values on a CT image (ie, CT numbers), depending on the mass density of the material. Thus, the differentiation and classification of different tissue types and contrast agents can be extremely challenging. In dual-energy CT, an additional attenuation measurement is obtained with a second x-ray spectrum (ie, a second "energy"), allowing the differentiation of multiple materials. Alternatively, this allows quantification of the mass density of two or three materials in a mixture with known elemental composition. Recent advances in the use of energy-resolving, photon-counting detectors for CT imaging suggest the ability to acquire data in multiple energy bins, which is expected to further improve the signal-tonoise ratio for material-specific imaging. In this review, the underlying motivation and physical principles of dualor multi-energy CT are reviewed and each of the current technical approaches is described. In addition, current and evolving clinical applications are introduced.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84940878380&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84940878380&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1148/radiol.2015142631
DO - 10.1148/radiol.2015142631
M3 - Article
C2 - 26302388
AN - SCOPUS:84940878380
SN - 0033-8419
VL - 276
SP - 637
EP - 653
JO - Radiology
JF - Radiology
IS - 3
ER -