Spatially varying longitudinal aliasing and resolution in spiral computed tomography

Shin Yi Yen, Geoffrey D. Rubin, Sandy Napel

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

Spiral computed tomography (CT) has revolutionized conventional CT as a truly three-dimensional imaging modality. A number of studies aimed at evaluating the longitudinal resolution in spiral CT have been presented, but the spatially varying nature of the longitudinal resolution in spiral CT has been largely left undiscussed. In this paper, we investigate the longitudinal resolution in spiral CT as affected by the spatially varying longitudinal aliasing. We propose the treatment of aliasing as a signal dependent, additive noise, and define a new image quality parameter, the contrast-to- aliased-noise ratio (CN(a)R), that relates to possible image degradation or loss of resolution caused by aliasing. We performed CT simulations and actual phantom scans using a resolution phantom consisting of sequences of spherical beads of different diameters, extending along the longitudinal axis. Our results show that the off-isocenter longitudinal resolution differs significantly from the longitudinal resolution at the isocenter and that the CN(a)R decreases with distance from the isocenter, and is a function of pitch and the helical interpolation algorithm used. The longitudinal resolution was observed to worsen with decreasing CN(a)R. We conclude that the longitudinal resolution in spiral CT is spatially varying, and can be characterized by the CN(a)R measured at the transaxial location of interest.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2617-2625
Number of pages9
JournalMedical physics
Volume26
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1999
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Longitudinal aliasing
  • Longitudinal resolution
  • Sampling
  • Spiral CT

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biophysics
  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging

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