Optimisation of DECT Spectral Separation for Quantitative Evaluation of Clinical Contrast Agent

This study is focusing on the evaluation and optimization of the spectral separation of clinical contrast agents in DECT imaging. Based on previous literatures, the two most important methods to evaluate the DECT systems are the evaluation of the DE ratio and the contrast to noise ratio. In the first study, abdomen CT phantom was used with an insertion of three contrast media: iodine, gadolinium and milk. The phantom was scanned using abdomen routine protocols for both single and dual energy CT. The scanner was then switched from DECT to SECT to scan the phantom with single energy ranges such as 80 kV, 100 kV, 120 kV and 140 kV. The MATLAB was used to fuse the images by weighted averaging 30 % low energy and 70 % high energy. The collected data were analysed using the Weasis software. Statistical analyses were then performed to compare the contrast to noise ratio with different tube voltage combinations. The MATLAB was again used to fuse the images. The results showed that 80/140 kV is the best spectral separation for evaluation of the clinical contrast medium. In addition, the results displayed significant CNR effect (p < 0.05) for all DECT images. The dual energy technique improved the contrast to noise ratio and dual energy ratio for the DECT images.