TY - JOUR
T1 - Contrast-to-noise ratio comparison between X-ray fluorescence emission tomography and computed tomography
AU - Debrosse, Hadley
AU - Jadick, Giavanna
AU - Meng, Ling Jian
AU - La Rivière, Patrick
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 SPIE. All rights reserved.
PY - 2024/12/31
Y1 - 2024/12/31
N2 - Purpose: We provide a comparison of X-ray fluorescence emission tomography (XFET) and computed tomography (CT) for detecting low concentrations of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) in soft tissue and characterize the conditions under which XFET outperforms energy-integrating CT (EICT) and photon-counting CT (PCCT). Approach: We compared dose-matched Monte Carlo XFET simulations and analytical fan-beam EICT and PCCT simulations. Each modality was used to image a numerical mouse phantom and contrast-depth phantom containing GNPs ranging from 0.05% to 4% by weight in soft tissue. Contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRs) of gold regions were compared among the three modalities, and XFET's detection limit was quantified based on the Rose criterion. A partial field-of-view (FOV) image was acquired for the phantom region containing 0.05% GNPs. Results: For the mouse phantom, XFET produced superior CNR values (CNRs = 24.5, 21.6, and 3.4) compared with CT images obtained with both energyintegrating (CNR = 4.4, 4.6, and 1.5) and photon-counting (CNR = 6.5, 7.7, and 2.0) detection systems. More generally, XFET outperformed CT for superficial imaging depths (<28.75 mm) for gold concentrations at and above 0.5%. XFET's surface detection limit was quantified as 0.44% for an average phantom dose of 16 mGy compatible with in vivo imaging. XFET's ability to image partial FOVs was demonstrated, and 0.05% gold was easily detected with an estimated dose of ∼81.6 cGy to a localized region of interest. Conclusions: We demonstrate a proof of XFET's benefit for imaging low concentrations of gold at superficial depths and the feasibility of XFET for in vivo metal mapping in preclinical imaging tasks.
AB - Purpose: We provide a comparison of X-ray fluorescence emission tomography (XFET) and computed tomography (CT) for detecting low concentrations of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) in soft tissue and characterize the conditions under which XFET outperforms energy-integrating CT (EICT) and photon-counting CT (PCCT). Approach: We compared dose-matched Monte Carlo XFET simulations and analytical fan-beam EICT and PCCT simulations. Each modality was used to image a numerical mouse phantom and contrast-depth phantom containing GNPs ranging from 0.05% to 4% by weight in soft tissue. Contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRs) of gold regions were compared among the three modalities, and XFET's detection limit was quantified based on the Rose criterion. A partial field-of-view (FOV) image was acquired for the phantom region containing 0.05% GNPs. Results: For the mouse phantom, XFET produced superior CNR values (CNRs = 24.5, 21.6, and 3.4) compared with CT images obtained with both energyintegrating (CNR = 4.4, 4.6, and 1.5) and photon-counting (CNR = 6.5, 7.7, and 2.0) detection systems. More generally, XFET outperformed CT for superficial imaging depths (<28.75 mm) for gold concentrations at and above 0.5%. XFET's surface detection limit was quantified as 0.44% for an average phantom dose of 16 mGy compatible with in vivo imaging. XFET's ability to image partial FOVs was demonstrated, and 0.05% gold was easily detected with an estimated dose of ∼81.6 cGy to a localized region of interest. Conclusions: We demonstrate a proof of XFET's benefit for imaging low concentrations of gold at superficial depths and the feasibility of XFET for in vivo metal mapping in preclinical imaging tasks.
KW - X-ray fluorescence computed tomography
KW - X-ray fluorescence emission tomography
KW - computed tomography
KW - contrast-to-noise ratio
KW - detection limit
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U2 - 10.1117/1.JMI.11.S1.S12808
DO - 10.1117/1.JMI.11.S1.S12808
M3 - Article
C2 - 39417084
AN - SCOPUS:85214143024
SN - 2329-4302
VL - 11
JO - Journal of Medical Imaging
JF - Journal of Medical Imaging
M1 - S12808
ER -