Physical Principles of Computed

Tomography

Teacher : Dr Patrick LAI Yau-Ming

Department of Health Technology & Informatics
 Objectives

 Brief overview of Historical Development in CT

 To compare the performance between Conventional
radiographic imaging and computed tomography
 To demonstrate an understanding of the working
principle underpinning computed tomography
 To explain the rationales behind the development from
conventional to Single Slice Spiral CT and then to
Multislice Spiral CT
 Resources
References:
• Romans, L.E. (2011). Computed tomography for
technologists: A Comprehensive Text, Williams &
Wilkins: Baltimore.
• Seeram, E. (2009). Computed Tomography: Physical
Principles, Clinical Applications & Quality Control,
Saunders:Philadelphia
Prescribed Paper Reading:
• Kalender (2006) Review X-ray computed
Tomography
• Goldman (2007) Principles of CT and CT Technology
• Goldman (2007) Principles of CT: Multislice CT
 Historical overview: the development of CT
Adapted From: Kalender (2005)
1895 WC Roentgen discovered “ X-rays”
1917 JH Radon develops the mathematical foundation for reconstructing cross-sectional images
from transmission measurements

1963 AM Cormack describes a technique for calculating the absorption distribution in the
human body
1972 GN Hounsfield and J Ambrose conduct the first Clinical CT examinations

1974 60 Clinical CT installations (head scanners)

1975 First Whole-body CT scanner in clinical use
1979 Hounsfield and Cormack awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology

1989 WA Kalender and P Vock conduct the first clinical examinations with Spiral CT (single
slice system)
1998 Introduction of multi-slice scanners (4-slice system)
2000 Introduction of combined PET/CT systems
2001 Introduction of 16-slice scanner systems
2004 Introduction of 64-slice scanner systems
2004 More than 40,000 whole-body CT scanner installations
2005 Dual source CT
2004-2007 Development of prototype 256-slice scanner system/320-slice system
2014 Detector-Based Spectral CT
 The pioneer
Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen

Crookes’ tube

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
 The First Radiograph

From: Fauber (2000)

 CT scanning the early days

C B

From: Beckmann (2006)

 Pioneer in CT

Godlfrey Newbold Hounsfield

Allan MacLeod Cormack From: Seeram (2001)

 Pioneer in Spiral CT
W A Kalender

From: Seeram 2001

What is CT
 CT: imaging process

• Computed Tomography is the

process of scanning a patient
to obtain multiple
measurements of x-ray
absorption coefficients taken
from thin sections through the
body and reconstructing these
measurements into an image
that displays that section’s
anatomy

From: Graham (1996)

CT Image: Brain
 CT image

Pixel and Voxel

From: Romans (1995)

 CT Number for Various tissues

CT number ( Hu)   t- w w x scaling factor

From: Romans (1995)

A comparison between conventional radiographic imaging and CT imaging

From: Seeram (2001)

Limitations of conventional radiographic
imaging
• Superimposition of
all structures on
the radiograph

From: Seeram (2001)

Limitation of conventional tomography

• Overlying blurs
produced by the
tomographic
movement
• Scattered radiation

From: Seeram (2001)

Limitations of conventional radiographic
imaging
• Radiographic imaging is
a qualitative rather than a
quantitative procedure

From: Seeram (2001)

 Advantages of CT

• Remove the
problem of
superimposition of
structures
 Advantages of CT
• Excellent low-contrast
resolution
• Radiography can only
discriminate an
attenuation difference of
about 10% whereas CT
has the advantage of
detecting 0.25 to 0.5%
attenuation difference
Levels of patient dose from x-ray examinations in the UK

Examination Typical effective dose (mSv)

CT Conventional
Head 1.8 0.1
Chest 8.3 0.04
Abdomen 7.2 1.4
Pelvis 7.3 1.0
CT: Data Acquisition
 Dual Source CT 128 Slices

Courtesy: QEH, Department of Radiology

High Speed Processor and Power Control

Courtesy: QEH, Department of Radiology

 CT: Imaging procedures

From: Brooker (1986)

 Examples of CT Images

Courtesy: QEH, Department of Radiology

 Scan Setup
 Patient registration  KV/mA/scan time
 mode of acquisition  tube angle
 Patient position  gantry angle
 Slice thickness/slice  Breath hold
interval/pitch  scan protocols
 Scan location
 SFOV/DFOV
 Contrast( type/volume)
 Reconstruction algorithm
 Production of a CT image
Data acquisition

Image
reconstruction

Image Display,
Manipulation,
Storage and
recording
From: Seeram
 Data acquisition geometry
• 1st generation
• Parallel beam
• Translate-Rotate

From: Seeram
 Data acquisition geometry
• 2nd generation
• Fan beam
• Translate-rotate

From: Seeram
 Data acquisition geometry
• 3rd generation
• Fan beam
• Rotate-rotate

From: Seeram
 Data acquisition geometry
• 4th generation
• Fan beam
• Fixed and rotate
 Electron beam CT

From: Seeram
(2001)
 Important features of each generation

Generation Configuration detectors beam min.

scan time
First translate-rotate 1-2 pencil thin 2.5 min

Second translate-rotate 3-52 narrow fan 10 sec

Third rotate-rotate 256-1000 wide fan 1 sec

Fourth rotate-fixed 600-4800 wide fan 1 sec

Fifth electron beam 1284 wide fan 50 ms

electron
beam
 Development of CT scanner

 1st scanner: 1972

 EBCT: 1984
 2-slice (1994) 4-slice(1998)
8-slice(2001) 16-slice(2002)
64-slice(2004) dual source(2006)
256-detectors(2007) & 320-detectors (2008)

 Rotation time: 500ms 330ms

 Min. slice thickness: 1.25mm 0.5 mm
 Scanning time:40s 8s single heart beat
 Dual Source CT

From: Siemens
 „Rotating Vacuum Vessel“ X-ray Tube Technology
with z-flying focal spot

Oil for HV
Rotating vacuum vessel
Emitter insulation
and cooling

Straton tube
Photo:
Deflection coils Motor Courtesy
Electron beam Ball bearings of Siemens
Housing
X-rays
Schardt et al. Medical Physics 2004; 31:2699-2706
 Double z-Sampling Technology
z-Flying Focal Spot

Electromagnetic Control Rotating

of the Electron beam Anode

0,6 mm
0,6 mm

32 detector rows
(64 slices scanned) Samplingdistance:
Sampling distance: 0.3
0.3mm
mm

Kalender WA. Computed Tomography. 2nd ed. Wiley & Sons, New York 2005
CT:Image Reconstruction
 Data Acquisition system (DAS)
Signal • Measuring of the
conver- transmitted radiation
sion beam
• Logarithmic conversion
• Encoding these
DAS measurements into
binary data
• Transmitting the binary
data

From: Seeram (2001)

 What do we measure in CT ?
Io Io Io

Io I1

Io I2
D

Io I161

I162 I163 I320

Adapted from Seeram (2001)

What do we measure in CT: Ray Sum
 1,1d1  1,2d 2  1,3d 3  ....1,160d160
I1  I 0 e
I 0  e 1,1d1  1,2d 2  1,3d 3  ....1,160d160
I1
160
I
ln 0    d i  Ray Sum
1,i
I 1 i1
 What do we measure in CT:
Attenuation Profile (A series of ray
sums)
ln (Io/I1)

Image
Reconstruction

Distance (D)
Image Reconstructon: Back
Projection method
 Tomographic Reconstruction: The numbers in a
Box Puzzle
P 3(1) P 3(2) P 3(3) P 3(4) P 3(5)

P1(1) A B C D E 0

P1(2)
F G H I J 50

P1(3) K L M N O 10

P1(4)
P Q R S T 10

P1(5) U V W X Y 10

10 10 40 10 10
Tomographic reconstruction: Reconstructing the
numbers in a box
P 3(1) P 3(2) P 3(3) P 3(4) P 3(5)

P1(1) 0 0 0 0 0 0

P1(2)
10 10 10 10 10 50

P1(3) 0 0 10 0 0 10

P1(4)
0 0 10 0 0 10

P1(5) 0 0 10 0 0 10

10 10 40 10 10
 Tomographic reconstruction

2 2 8 2 2
2 2 8 2 2
2 2 8 2 2
2 2 8 2 2
2 2 8 2 2

The array, after backprojection of the vertical projection

Tomographic reconstruction: Reveal
the “T”
2 2 8 2 2
12 12 18 12 12
4 4 10 4 4
4 4 10 4 4
4 4 10 4 4

The array, after adding the second horizontal

backprojection
From slice by slice CT to single slice
spiral CT
Slice-by-slice sequential CT scanning
 Spiral CT: Slip Ring

Courtesy to Ms Wendy Wong (QMH)

 Reciprocating rotation verse
Continuous rotation

From: Seeram
From: http://pet.utu.fi/files/Basics_of_CT.pdf
 Spiral/Helical/Volumetric CT

Continuous &
Simultaneous
• Source rotation
• Patient translation
• Data acquisition

From: Kalender
(1990)
Spiral/helical geometry created when the X-
ray tube rotates continuously around the
 Helical CT- Advantages

• Reduction in respiratory
misregistration
• Quick scan times
• Optimal vessel
opacification
• Unlimited reconstruction
intervals
• High-quality 3
Dimensional and multi-
planar images
• Reduction in IV contrast
 Slice-by-Slice misregistration
Single-breath hold acquisition

Shifting of lesions because of different levels of From: Seeram (2001)

respiration
 Good News About Spiral CT
- Retrospective Reconstruction
Retrospective
Direct reconstruction reconstruction

Scanning loci Slices Scanning locus Slices

 Accuracy of 3D reconstruction

Stair-step artifact

Data acquisition Data Processing 3D Image

From: Seeram (2001)
 Good News About Spiral CT
- Retrospective Reconstruction

Retrospective
Direct reconstruction reconstruction
 Helical CT: Data Inconsistency

• Motion artifacts
• Linear interpolation(LI) is
essential to create planar
data from helical raw data
before reconstruction
• 360 and 180 deg. LI

From: Romans (1995)

 Direct reconstruction of Spiral Data

Phantom
studies

Thoracic
studies

Streak artifact From: Seeram (2001)

Spiral CT Raw Data
Full-Scan Interpolation (FI, 360LI)
z
y

Ray A
Spiral CT Raw Data
Half-Scan Interpolation (HI,
180LI) z
y

Ray A
 SSP: Z-interpolation and Pitch

From:Kalender (2005)
From single slice spiral CT to multislice
spiral CT
Single slice spiral CT: Compromised
performance

Speed Volume

Detail
• Single slice spiral CT of Abdomen-Pelvis
covering 600 mm of Anatomy

• 5 mm slice thickness

•Pitch = 1; 120 rotations

•Exposure factors: 120 KVp, 250 mA, 1 sec.

• Determine (i) the total energy deposited in the

X-ray tube during the spiral scan (ii) the energy
deposited in the X-ray tube for an axial slice in
sequential CT with an equivalent exposure factors
 Advantages of multislice scanning

 Faster acquisition compared with single slice

spiral CT scanner
 Better for uncooperative, breathless, and trauma
patients
 A larger area can be covered during a single
acquisition
 Less movement artifact
 Lifelike multiplanar reformats
 Improved vascular and cardiac imaging
 Potential for faster throughput of patients
 Disadvantages of multislice scanning

 Increased capital cost

 Increased cost for replacement tubes and
data storage
 More time required to analyse data
 Increased radiological workload
 Potential for higher radiation dose
Detector Configuration: Single slice vs multislice
From: http://pet.utu.fi/files/Basics_of_CT.pdf
Multislice CT Coronary angiography
 Peripheral Runoff

From: Klingenbeck-Regn (1999)

END