PRINCIPLE OF COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY (CT) IMAGING

Lecturer : Siti Afifah Mohshim

INTRODUCTION
A CT scan, takes pictures of the body and uses a computer to put them together. CT stands for computerized tomography. A CT scanner uses X-rays and is a painless procedure. A series of X-rays are taken of your body at slightly different angles, to produce very detailed pictures of the inside of your body.
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INTRODUCTION
The pictures produced by CT scans are called tomograms and they provide doctors with information to help them reach a diagnosis about a variety of conditions. The CT scanner is a large machine. The pictures are taken while you lie on a couch, which moves backwards and forwards through the hole of the machine that is shaped rather like a giant doughnut.4

HISTORY PERSPECTIVE
Computed tomography (CT) has also been identified as computerized axial tomography (CAT), computerize transaxial tomography (CTAT), and digital axial tomography (DAT). Computed tomography results in a digital image - transverse (transaxial) image. The principal advantage of CT imaging over other x-ray imaging is improved 6 contrast resolution.

HISTORY PERSPECTIVE
Tomography is from the Greek "tomos," meaning section. Unfortunately, we identify an image section as a "slice. Emission CT involves nuclear medicine and 1-ray emission from a patient administered a radionuclide. Computed tomography utilizes x-ray transmission through a patient.
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CONVENTIONAL TOMOGRAPHY
Conventional tomography is a radiograph obtained with a moving source image receptor assembly. Conventional tomography results in an image of superimposed tissues. There is no superimposition of tissues in CT. Scatter radiation reduces radiographic contrast resolution. Conventional tomography improves contrast resolution by blurring tissues above and below the focal plane. Conventional tomography does not improve spatial resolution.
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CONVENTIONAL TOMOGRAPHY

Equipment arrangement for obtaining : A) Conventional Radiograph B) Conventional Tomograph

1st Generation of CT Scan

Finely collimated x-ray beam (pencil beam) was used in first-generation CT imagers. Fan-shaped x-ray beam (fan beam) is used in all current CT imagers. Single radiation detector. Translate-rotate motion. 180 translations with 1o rotation between translations. Single image projection per translation. Five minute imaging time. Head imager only, not capable of body imaging 10

1st Generation of CT Scan

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2nd Generation of CT Scan

Fan-shape x-ray beam. Multiple radiation detectors-a detector array. Translate-rotate motion. Usually 18 translations with l0o rotation between translations. Multiple image projections per translation. Approximately, 30 s imaging time. Head and body imager
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3rd Generation of CT Scan

A fan beam x-ray source is used and it views the entire patient during imaging. As many as several hundred radiation detectors are incorporated into the curvilinear detector array. The curvilinear detector array provides constant distance between source and each detector, resulting in good image reconstruction. This development is based on 360o rotate-rotate motion. Both the x-ray source and the detector array rotate about the same axis.
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3rd Generation of CT Scan

Hundreds of image projections are acquired during each rotation, resulting in better contrast resolution and spatial resolution. Imaging time is reduced to 1s or less. Various arc scans are possible in order to improve motion blur-half scan, full scan. Ring artifacts are characteristic third 14 generation imagers.

4th Generation of CT Scan

Fourth generation was developed principally to suppress ring artifacts. The x-ray source is collimated to a fan beam as in third generation. The detector array can contain several thousand individual detectors. The mechanical motion is rotation of the x-ray source around a fixed detector array (rotate stationary). There is a modest sacrifice in geometry; however, the unattenuated leading edge and un-attenuated trailing edge of the fan beam allows for individual detector calibration during each scan.
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4th Generation of CT Scan

Patient dose may be somewhat higher with fourthgeneration scanners because of inter-space between detectors. When there is an inter-space between detectors, some xradiation falls on the interspace, resulting in wasted dose. As the fan beam passes across each detector, an image projection is acquired. Imaging time is 1s or less. Various arc scans are available-half scan, full scan, 16 over scan.

Electron Beam CT (EBCT)

This CT imager was developed specifically for fast imaging. Images can be obtained in less than 100ms, about the time of a radiograph. The x-ray source is not an x-ray tube but rather a focused, steered, and microwave accelerated electron beam incident on a tungsten target. The target covers one-half of the imaging circle; the detector array covers the other half. The electron beam is steered along the curved tungsten target creating a moving source. 17

Electron Beam CT (EBCT)

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Electron Beam CT (EBCT)

There are four targets, or focal tracks, and four detector arrays, resulting in four contiguous images simultaneously. Electron beam CT is principally applied to cardiac imaging and frequently advertised as a heart scan. Electron beam CT has no moving parts. Electron beam CT uses a focused electron beam on a tungsten target ring as an x-ray source. Heat dissipation is no problem in EBCT.

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Electron beam CT can produce up to eight slices simultaneously. Electron beam CT scan times as short as 50ms are possible. 20 Principal application for EBCT is cardiac imaging.

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Spiral CT
Spiral CT was introduced to clinical practice in 1989 and is now the standard CT imager. If a third- or fourth-generation CT imager is caused to continually rotate while the patient couch is moved through the imaging plane, spiral CT results. The development of slip rings was the technology breakthrough that made spiral CT possible.
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Spiral CT
Spiral CT requires slip ring technology for data transfer from the rotating gantry. Spiral CT requires either an on-board high voltage supply so that coiled high-voltage cables are unnecessary or slip rings for high voltage transfer. The principal advantage to spiral CT is the ability to image large volumes of anatomy in less time. Single breath hold imaging of the entire torso is possible with spiral CT.
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1st Generation of CT vs. Spiral CT

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The CT
Every computed tomography (CT) imager has three distinguishing components-the operating console, the computer, and the gantry.

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CT Gantry
The operating console performs two major functions-imaging control with pre-selected technique conditions and image viewing and manipulation. Multiprocessing allows a computer to perform several functions at the same time, which reduces reconstruction time and increases capacity. The gantry is special to CT. It houses the x-ray source, the detector array, the collimator assembly, and, maybe, also the high-voltage generator. The patient aperture of a CT gantry has maximum diameter of approximately 70 cm. 25

X-ray Source
X-ray tubes developed for CT have very high heat capacity. Rapid heat dissipation is provided by large diameter, thick anode disks rotating at 10,000 rpm. Anode heat capacity of 6 MHU (million heat units) are common. That compares to less than 1 MHU for general radiography.
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Heat Units (HU)

Heat units (HU) and joules (J) are equivalent measures of energy.

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Detector Array
Detector efficiency is important because it determines maximum tube loading and controls patient dose. Three important features of the detector array are efficiency, number of detectors, and detector concentration. Early CT imagers used a scintillation crystal, photomultiplier tube as a single element detector.
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Detector Array

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Detector Array
A grouping of detectors is called a detector array. There are two types of detector array; gas-filled and solid state. Gas-filled detectors-high-pressure xenon have very fast response and no afterglow but only about 50% detection efficiency. Gas-filled detectors can be packed more tightly than solid state detectors with less inter-space septa. Most solid state detectors today use a scintillator, cadmium tungstate (CdWO4), optically coupled to a photodiode.
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