Quantification of radiographic image quality based on patient anatomical contrast-to-noise ratio: a preliminary study with chest images

Author(s):  
Yuan Lin ◽  
Xiaohui Wang ◽  
William J. Sehnert ◽  
David H. Foos ◽  
Lori Barski ◽  
...  
Microscopy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-36
Author(s):  
Ji-Youn Kim ◽  
Youngjin Lee

Abstract This study aimed to develop and evaluate an improved median filter (IMF) with an adaptive mask size for light microscope (LM) images. We acquired images of the mouse first molar using a LM at 100× magnification. The images obtained using our proposed IMF were compared with those from a conventional median filter. Several parameters such as the contrast-to-noise ratio, coefficient of variation, no-reference assessments and peak signal-to-noise ratio were employed to evaluate the image quality quantitatively. The results demonstrated that the proposed IMF could effectively de-noise the LM images and preserve the image details, achieving a better performance than the conventional median filter.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-58
Author(s):  
Ismail Sh. Baqer

A two Level Image Quality enhancement is proposed in this paper. In the first level, Dualistic Sub-Image Histogram Equalization DSIHE method decomposes the original image into two sub-images based on median of original images. The second level deals with spikes shaped noise that may appear in the image after processing. We presents three methods of image enhancement GHE, LHE and proposed DSIHE that improve the visual quality of images. A comparative calculations is being carried out on above mentioned techniques to examine objective and subjective image quality parameters e.g. Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio PSNR values, entropy H and mean squared error MSE to measure the quality of gray scale enhanced images. For handling gray-level images, convenient Histogram Equalization methods e.g. GHE and LHE tend to change the mean brightness of an image to middle level of the gray-level range limiting their appropriateness for contrast enhancement in consumer electronics such as TV monitors. The DSIHE methods seem to overcome this disadvantage as they tend to preserve both, the brightness and contrast enhancement. Experimental results show that the proposed technique gives better results in terms of Discrete Entropy, Signal to Noise ratio and Mean Squared Error values than the Global and Local histogram-based equalization methods


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Damiano Caruso ◽  
Elisa Rosati ◽  
Nicola Panvini ◽  
Marco Rengo ◽  
Davide Bellini ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Patient body size represents the main determinant of parenchymal enhancement and by adjusting the contrast media (CM) dose to patient weight may be a more appropriate approach to avoid a patient over dosage of CM. To compare the performance of fixed-dose and lean body weight (LBW)-adapted contrast media dosing protocols, in terms of image quality and parenchymal enhancement. Results One-hundred cancer patients undergoing multiphasic abdominal CT were prospectively enrolled in this multicentric study and randomly divided in two groups: patients in fixed-dose group (n = 50) received 120 mL of CM while in LBW group (n = 50) the amount of CM was computed according to the patient’s LBW. LBW protocol group received a significantly lower amount of CM (103.47 ± 17.65 mL vs. 120.00 ± 0.00 mL, p < 0.001). Arterial kidney signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and pancreatic CNR were significantly higher in LBW group (all p ≤ 0.004). LBW group provided significantly higher arterial liver, kidney, and pancreatic contrast enhancement index (CEI) and portal venous phase kidney CEI (all p ≤ 0.002). Significantly lower portal vein SNR and CNR were observed in LBW-Group (all p ≤ 0.020). Conclusions LBW-adapted CM administration for abdominal CT reduces the volume of injected CM and improves both image quality and parenchymal enhancement.


Author(s):  
S. Sawall ◽  
L. Klein ◽  
E. Wehrse ◽  
L. T. Rotkopf ◽  
C. Amato ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective To evaluate the dual-energy (DE) performance and spectral separation with respect to iodine imaging in a photon-counting CT (PCCT) and compare it to dual-source CT (DSCT) DE imaging. Methods A semi-anthropomorphic phantom extendable with fat rings equipped with iodine vials is measured in an experimental PCCT. The system comprises a PC detector with two energy bins (20 keV, T) and (T, eU) with threshold T and tube voltage U. Measurements using the PCCT are performed at all available tube voltages (80 to 140 kV) and threshold settings (50–90 keV). Further measurements are performed using a conventional energy-integrating DSCT. Spectral separation is quantified as the relative contrast media ratio R between the energy bins and low/high images. Image noise and dose-normalized contrast-to-noise ratio (CNRD) are evaluated in resulting iodine images. All results are validated in a post-mortem angiography study. Results R of the PC detector varies between 1.2 and 2.6 and increases with higher thresholds and higher tube voltage. Reference R of the EI DSCT is found as 2.20 on average overall phantoms. Maximum CNRD in iodine images is found for T = 60/65/70/70 keV for 80/100/120/140 kV. The highest CNRD of the PCCT is obtained using 140 kV and is decreasing with decreasing tube voltage. All results could be confirmed in the post-mortem angiography study. Conclusion Intrinsically acquired DE data are able to provide iodine images similar to conventional DSCT. However, PCCT thresholds should be chosen with respect to tube voltage to maximize image quality in retrospectively derived image sets. Key Points • Photon-counting CT allows for the computation of iodine images with similar quality compared to conventional dual-source dual-energy CT. • Thresholds should be chosen as a function of the tube voltage to maximize iodine contrast-to-noise ratio in derived image sets. • Image quality of retrospectively computed image sets can be maximized using optimized threshold settings.


2021 ◽  
pp. 197140092110087
Author(s):  
Andrea De Vito ◽  
Cesare Maino ◽  
Sophie Lombardi ◽  
Maria Ragusi ◽  
Cammillo Talei Franzesi ◽  
...  

Background and purpose To evaluate the added value of a model-based reconstruction algorithm in the assessment of acute traumatic brain lesions in emergency non-enhanced computed tomography, in comparison with a standard hybrid iterative reconstruction approach. Materials and methods We retrospectively evaluated a total of 350 patients who underwent a 256-row non-enhanced computed tomography scan at the emergency department for brain trauma. Images were reconstructed both with hybrid and model-based iterative algorithm. Two radiologists, blinded to clinical data, recorded the presence, nature, number, and location of acute findings. Subjective image quality was performed using a 4-point scale. Objective image quality was determined by computing the signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio. The agreement between the two readers was evaluated using k-statistics. Results A subjective image quality analysis using model-based iterative reconstruction gave a higher detection rate of acute trauma-related lesions in comparison to hybrid iterative reconstruction (extradural haematomas 116 vs. 68, subdural haemorrhages 162 vs. 98, subarachnoid haemorrhages 118 vs. 78, parenchymal haemorrhages 94 vs. 64, contusive lesions 36 vs. 28, diffuse axonal injuries 75 vs. 31; all P<0.001). Inter-observer agreement was moderate to excellent in evaluating all injuries (extradural haematomas k=0.79, subdural haemorrhages k=0.82, subarachnoid haemorrhages k=0.91, parenchymal haemorrhages k=0.98, contusive lesions k=0.88, diffuse axonal injuries k=0.70). Quantitatively, the mean standard deviation of the thalamus on model-based iterative reconstruction images was lower in comparison to hybrid iterative one (2.12 ± 0.92 vsa 3.52 ± 1.10; P=0.030) while the contrast-to-noise ratio and signal-to-noise ratio were significantly higher (contrast-to-noise ratio 3.06 ± 0.55 vs. 1.55 ± 0.68, signal-to-noise ratio 14.51 ± 1.78 vs. 8.62 ± 1.88; P<0.0001). Median subjective image quality values for model-based iterative reconstruction were significantly higher ( P=0.003). Conclusion Model-based iterative reconstruction, offering a higher image quality at a thinner slice, allowed the identification of a higher number of acute traumatic lesions than hybrid iterative reconstruction, with a significant reduction of noise.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 2047
Author(s):  
Nor Azura Muhammad ◽  
Zunaide Kayun ◽  
Hasyma Abu Hassan ◽  
Jeannie Hsiu Ding Wong ◽  
Kwan Hoong Ng ◽  
...  

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of CT acquisition parameter setting on organ dose and its influence on image quality metrics in pediatric phantom during CT examination. The study was performed on 64-slice multidetector CT scanner (MDCT) Siemens Definition AS (Siemens Sector Healthcare, Forchheim, Germany) using various CT CAP protocols (P1–P9). Tube potential for P1, P2, and P3 protocols were fixed at 100 kVp while P4, P5, and P6 were fixed at 80 kVp with used of various reference noise values. P7, P8, and P9 were the modification of P1 with changes on slice collimation, pitch factor, and tube current modulation (TCM), respectively. TLD-100 chips were inserted into the phantom slab number 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, and 14 to represent thyroid, lung, liver, stomach, gonads, and skin, respectively. The image quality metrics, signal to noise ratio (SNR) and contrast to noise ratio (CNR) values were obtained from the CT console. As a result, this study indicates a potential reduction in the absorbed dose up to 20% to 50% along with reducing tube voltage, tube current, and increasing the slice collimation. There is no significant difference (p > 0.05) observed between the protocols and image metrics.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (8) ◽  
pp. 20190139
Author(s):  
Emine Şebnem Kursun-Cakmak ◽  
Husniye Demirturk Kocasarac ◽  
Seval Bayrak ◽  
Gülbahar Ustaoğlu ◽  
Marcel Noujeim

Objectives: To assess the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of four different types of dental implant materials in CT and cone beam CT (CBCT) images with varying scan settings. Methods: Four different types of implants: zirconium (Zr), titanium (Ti) Grade 4 and 5 and titanium–zirconium (Ti–ZrO2) alloy were placed in a 3% gelatin phantom in a cylindrical plastic container and scanned with two different CT machines (GE Medical systems and Toshiba Medical Systems) and one CBCT machine (I-CAT, Imaging Sciences International) with different voxel sizes of 0.2, 0.25, 0.3 and 0.4 mm. Images were analyzed using ImageJ software with the purpose of estimating the CNR. Results: The CNR obtained from images acquired with CT was lower than the CBCT with all voxel sizes tested. 0.3 and 0.4 mm voxel sizes exhibited the highest CNR (p < 0.05) that gives the best image quality. Among the implant materials tested, titanium Grade 5 has the highest levels of CNR while Zirconium has the lowest (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The optimum protocol for radiographic follow-up in areas near implants on the I-CAT is low-resolution settings (0.3 and 0.4 mm voxel sizes) which gave the highest CNR thus image quality. In presence of Zr implants, an alternative imaging modality (i.e., MRI) may be considered to avoid low-quality images.


Diagnostics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 634
Author(s):  
Weon Jang ◽  
Ji Soo Song ◽  
Sang Heon Kim ◽  
Jae Do Yang

While magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) is routinely used, compressed sensing MRCP (CS-MRCP) and gradient and spin-echo MRCP (GRASE-MRCP) with breath-holding (BH) may allow sufficient image quality with shorter acquisition times. This study qualitatively and quantitatively compared BH-CS-MRCP and BH-GRASE-MRCP and evaluated their clinical effectiveness. Data from 59 consecutive patients who underwent both BH-CS-MRCP and BH-GRASE-MRCP were qualitatively analyzed using a five-point Likert-type scale. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the common bile duct (CBD), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the CBD and liver, and contrast ratio between periductal tissue and the CBD were measured. Paired t-test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and McNemar’s test were used for statistical analysis. No significant differences were found in overall image quality or duct visualization of the CBD, right and left 1st level intrahepatic duct (IHD), cystic duct, and proximal pancreatic duct (PD). BH-CS-MRCP demonstrated higher background suppression and better visualization of right (p = 0.004) and left 2nd level IHD (p < 0.001), mid PD (p = 0.003), and distal PD (p = 0.041). Image quality degradation was less with BH-GRASE-MRCP than BH-CS-MRCP (p = 0.025). Of 24 patients with communication between a cyst and the PD, 21 (87.5%) and 15 patients (62.5%) demonstrated such communication on BH-CS-MRCP and BH-GRASE-MRCP, respectively. SNR, contrast ratio, and CNR of BH-CS-MRCP were higher than BH-GRASE-MRCP (p < 0.001). Both BH-CS-MRCP and BH-GRASE-MRCP are useful imaging methods with sufficient image quality. Each method has advantages, such as better visualization of small ducts with BH-CS-MRCP and greater time saving with BH-GRASE-MRCP. These differences allow diverse choices for visualization of the pancreaticobiliary tree in clinical practice.


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