Line Contrast Figure of Merit for Dual Energy X-ray Image Quality Assessment: Initial Results

Various Figures of Merits (FoMs) are used in order to evaluate the quality of x-ray images. A new Figure of Merit (FoM) is presented, which is based on analysis of data extracted from line profiles within the image. This FoM is referred as Line Contrast (LC). In order to evaluate its performance, the proposed FoM along with Contrast to Noise Ratio (CNR) and Contrast Michelson are applied in simulated Brain CT images and the resulting FoM values are compared. Brain CT images are created using the XRAYImagingSimulator, an in-house developed software platform for x-ray imaging simulation. A 3D brain phantom especially modified for x-ray imaging that contains volumes of gray, white, skull and cerebrospinal fluid was used. Presented Dual Energy CT images were produced with the low/high energy combination of 100/110 keV monochromatic beams. All images were evaluated using CNR, Contrast Michelson and LC FoM, both with and without the simulated presence of noise. Initial results from the application of FoMs show that LC comes into full accordance with visual assessment and that it overpasses the traditionally used CNR and Contrast Michelson. Initial results are presented here, while further studies on the evaluation of the proposed FoM are in progress.