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Image Unsharpness

There are four types of unsharpness in medical images: 1) geometric unsharpness caused by the focal spot size, 2) image receptor unsharpness caused by detector elements averaging pixel values, 3) movement unsharpness from object motion during acquisition, and 4) edge unsharpness from tapering object edges that gradually attenuate x-rays. Geometric unsharpness increases with larger focal spots and objects placed closer to the x-ray source or further from the detector.

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131 views

Image Unsharpness

There are four types of unsharpness in medical images: 1) geometric unsharpness caused by the focal spot size, 2) image receptor unsharpness caused by detector elements averaging pixel values, 3) movement unsharpness from object motion during acquisition, and 4) edge unsharpness from tapering object edges that gradually attenuate x-rays. Geometric unsharpness increases with larger focal spots and objects placed closer to the x-ray source or further from the detector.

Uploaded by

Selma
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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4.

Unsharpness
There are four causes of unsharpness:

a. Geometric unsharpness
b. Image receptor unsharpness
c. Movement unsharpness
d. Edge unsharpness

a. Geometric unsharpness

Focal spot

Image on image receptor


1 1

Penumbra'
Geometric unsharpness

The boundaries between a dark and a light area may


be ill-defined, resulting in a blurred edge. This is called
"unsharpness". There are several causes and types of
unsharpness as outlined below.
The focal spot is not infinitely small. There will be areas
of the image that are:

• High signal: all x-ray photons reach detector


• Low signal: no x-ray photons have passed
through the object to reach the detector
• Intermediate: not all photons have passed
through the object. The size of this area
determines the unsharpness and is called the
penumbra.

Moving an object closer to the focal spot will increase


the penumbra and, therefore, the unsharpness.

The geometric unsharpness (Ug) is determined as


follows:

Ug = f x b / a

where:
f = x-ray focal spot size
a = distance from x-ray source to front surface
of object
b = distance from object to detector

b. Image receptor unsharpness


• Digital images: if a detector element lies across
the border between a light and a dark area the
pixel displayed will be an average of these two
values creating a blurred border.

c. Movement unsharpness
If an object moves during the acquisition the edge will
be blurred resulting in unsharpness.
d. Edge unsharpness

Object

Image o ·· receptor
Edge unsharpness

If an object has a tapering edge the attenuation will


gradually decrease along the object.

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