Resident Physics Lectures

Computed Radiography

Prof. J.K Tonui, PhD

School of Medicine,
Department of Radiology & Imaging
 Learning Objectives
 At the end of this lecture, the student should be able to:

 Describe the components and functions of the CR imaging

system.
 Describe the operation of CR imaging systems.

 Describe how the PSP straps the image and how the image is

read and digitized.

 Describe limitations of PSP and how to overcome them.

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 Introduction
 Computed radiography (CR) imaging is similar to

convectional X-ray imaging with the following exception:

 Uses an electronic system to capture and display image, and

 Uses radiation detectors other than x-ray film as IR, and

 Capture image as an analog electrical signal, which

 Is then converted into digital signal, and fed to a computer

system for processing of image for display and storage.

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 Computed radiography
 CR

 Uses photo-stimulable phosphor (PSP) detector, and

 Unlike those used in II such as Gd2O2S, which emit light

instantaneously when struck by x-rays, the PSP behaves

differently when struck by x-rays, because
 They emit light with a delay and are also called storage phosphors

or imaging plates.

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 Computed radiography
 CR x-ray tube

 Is compatible with the convectional x-ray unit designed for

film-screening imaging.

 The exceptions:

 Needs installation of CR reader and

 Uses plate cassette instead of screen-film cassette, and

 The plate is made up of PSP instead of the film.

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 Computed radiography

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 CR System

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 CR Procedures
 Stage 1

 The pt. is exposed by x-ray just like in convectional radiography.

 Stage 2

 After exposure of CR plate, it is removed and loaded into a reader, and

 The reader removes the plate and exposes it to a laser light, which

stimulates the x-ray energy trapped in the phosphor.

 Stage 3 & 4

 The light emitted from the plate is collected, quantified (scaling),

digitized and displayed.

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 Complete CR Imaging Process

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 CR Procedures
 The imaging plate is mechanically removed from cassette

 Plate is translated across a moving stage and scanned by a laser beam;

 The laser stimulate emission of trapped energy in plate which is then

emitted as visible light;

 This visible light is collected by fiber optic guide and directed to PMT

tube, where it is converted into electronic signal, digitize and stored, and
 Thereafter, the plate is exposed to white light to erase any residual

trapped energy and readied it for reuse and

 The plate is then return to the cassette and is ready for next exposure.

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 Digital Image
 Digital image

 Is generated by a CR reader, and

 Several things can be done on this image:

o Can be stored temporarily on the local hard-disk of the DR computer

system, or
o Can be printed on a laser printer connected to the CR reader to produce

hard copies of the images, or

o Can be stored permanently in the department’s PACS to be accessed by

radiologist for interpretation and archival.

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 Imaging Plate of a CR system
 Fig,

 Shows structure of imaging plate, and

 Commercial plates are made of

flexible plastics coated with phosphor

crystal of thickness 150 to 400 m,
and
 Kept in in a light-tight cassette or

enclosure.
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 Imaging Plate of a CR system
 The imaging plate

 Is purely an analog device, hence produces analog image, which

 Is read out as analog and converted into digital image using electronic techniques,

and
 It uses a phosphor material which absorbs x-rays energy and convert to light

both directly (small fraction) and indirectly (large fraction), and

 The later process is important in CR imaging where absorbed x-rays excite

electrons and cause then to be trapped at intermediate energy levels in the

forbidden gap.

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 Imaging Plate of a CR system
 The CR imaging plate

 Is coated with a photo-stimulable phosphor or photo-storage

phosphor (PSP), which

 Are made from 85% BaFBr and 15% BaFI, activated with a

small quantity of europium, and designated as BaFBr:Eu, and

 Activation/doping is used because it creates defects in BaFBr

crystals that allow electrons to be trapped more efficiently.

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 Imaging Plate of a CR system
 When the plate is exposed to x-rays,

 Electrons are excited from valence band to conduction band, and some

of them get trapped in the F-centers or crystallographic defect, and

 These trapped electrons form a latent image originally carried by x-rays but

as a spatial distribution of electrons trapped at high-energy states, and

 The number of filled traps is proportional to the amount of x-rays

energy absorbed, and

 These processes of image formations is illustrated in the figure in next

two slides.

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 Formation of Latent Image in CR Plate
 Figure

 Shows the electron transport from valence band to conduction

band, then returning to be trapped in the forbidden zone.

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 Formation of Latent Image in CR Plate
 In PSP

 X-rays raise electrons from

ground level to excited state

and
 Leave them trapped in higher

states in the band gaps, which

 Then form latent or invisible

image.

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 Reading Exposed CR Plate
 The exposed imaging plate

 Is removed from x-ray equipment, and

 Then loaded into the CR reader, which

 Then reads it across the plate using a laser light, which

 Produces analog electrical signals, which in turn

 Are passed through an ADC which digitalize them for image

processing and display on the workstation computers, and

 Thereafter erases the imaging plate for reuse.

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 Reading Exposed CR Plate
 Figure

 Shows the action of selective heating with

a fine infrared laser beam (laser readout)

where the trapped electron (carrying X-
ray exposure/image information) is
ejected from the forbidden zone back
into the valency band, and

 This movement causes light emission

which is collected by a photosensitive

detector as image data.
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 Reading CR Plate
 A reader scans across plate with laser
Laser Beam

light, and
 The laser releases electrons trapped
Higher Energy
in high-energy states, and Elect ron -
St at e

 As the electrons fall to low

energy states, they emit energy in

form of visible light, whose
 Intensity is proportional to theLower Energy - - - - - - - - -
Elect ron - - - - -
- - - -
incident x-ray radiation. St at e - - -
- - - - - -

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 Write/Read CR Plate

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 Reading/Scanning CR Plate
 The imaging plate (see

figure):
 Is translated along the

readout stage in the vertical

direction (y-direction), and
 A scanning laser beam

interrogates the plate

horizontally (x-direction).

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 Reading/Scanning CR Plate

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 Reading/Scanning CR Plate
 From previous slide, the scanning system consists of:

 A red laser source ( 700 nm) which produces finely focused light, and

 This laser light is scanned across the plate using a rotating multifaceted

mirror, which
 Strikes the phosphor at a location (x,y), the trapped energy from the x-ray

exposure at that location is released from the imaging plate, and

 A fraction of the emitted light ( 300-500 nm or blue) travels thro’ fiber

optic light guide and reaches a PMT, which

 Produces analog electric signal, which is digitized and stored in memory.

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 Image Display

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 Image Display
 In image production in CR,
 The image is essentially built point by point and line by line,

 In order to give a digital image resolution of up to 4k x 4k pixels, and

 Typical size of a pixel size is 0.1 μm x 0.1 μm.

 The imaging cycle

 Is completed by flooding the exposed plate with a high intensity light

from sodium discharge lamp, which
 Erases any remnants of the latent image and readies the plate for
reuse.

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 CR Resolution
 Spatial resolution of CR depends on the

 Phosphor plate thickness;

 Readout time, and

 Diameter of the laser beam

o which is typically about 100 μm.

 Note that,

 The scattering of laser light in the phosphor material make the laser beam to

diverge or spread out more, and

 Hence, results to a broader stimulated area than that with original laser

diameter.
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 Comparison Film-Screen & CR

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 Advantages of CR
 The major advantage of CR is that

 Existing radiology rooms can be used for this technology.

 In order words, radiography department can be digitalized at a

relatively low cost, by adopting existing equipments and installing
readers only, and

 In addition, due to the similarities with traditional radiography

(see Fig in previous slide), the learning curve is much shorter

for CR.

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 Construction of CR Imaging Plates
 The CR imaging plate

 Is very similar to an intensifying screen in its structure, and

 It consists of tiny phosphor grains of  5 μm, which

 Are embedded in an organic binder which is coated onto a substrate material.

 The plate is turbid, hence

 Scatters light (both excitation laser, and emitted light) strongly &

isotropically, (see next slide), hence

 The light diffusion limits the useful thickness of the phosphor layer.

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 Light diffusion limits thickness of SPS

 Implications of the
finite width of laser
beam and phosphor
layer on the spatial
resolution in CR.

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 Imaging Plate
 X-ray absorption efficiency

 Could be improved by increasing thickness of phosphor layer, but

 Lateral diffusion of light in the phosphor layer will increase in

proportion to the layer thickness, which impairs spatial resolution.

 Sensitivity will not increase much when the layer exceeds a

certain thickness, because

 Most of the light stimulated deep in the layer will not reach the

surface for detection.

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 Improving Sensitivity
 Sensitivity limitation can be overcome

 By using a transparent substrate to make imaging plate, and

 Coating both sides with phosphors, and then

 Detecting the luminescence emitted by the photo-stimulation

process from both sides of plate, i.e. from the front and the back
sides of the plate (like double emulsion film), and
 The good news id that it is requires two light-collection systems,

but only one laser beam.

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 Improving sensitivity
 The improved sensitivity

 Is achieved because conversion efficiency in the convectional type

is ~30%, and hence

 Both sides will give double, i.e. 60%.

 In addition,
 The sensitivity has been improved by using a structured phosphor,

o e.g. CsBr: Eu as the imaging plate

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 Limitation of CR
 Fundamental limitation of CR

 Is time required to read latent image, because

 The decay time of the phosphor luminescence is ~0.7 μs, hence

 Reading an image formed by a 3000 x 3000 pixels, can take over half a

minute to complete since a single pixel is read at a time, but

 The reading can be speeded up by scanning a line of pixels, where

 A full line of pixels is stimulated and read out simultaneously instead of a

single pixel.

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 CR Line-Scanning
 The line-scanning requires

 A linear array of laser light sources, e.g. laser diodes, and

 A linear array of photo-detectors as wide as the imaging plate, and

 Such scans reduce readout times to less than 10 s, and

 Furthermore, linear scanning mechanism can be built into the image

receptor cassette, but

 CR plates used in clinical radiography produce a range of unique

artifacts (reviewed by Cesar et al, 2001).

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