PHYSICAL PRINCIPLES OF

COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY

RADIOGRAPHY LIMITATIONS

SUPERIMPOSITION
DIFFICULTY IN DISTINGUISHING
BETWEEN HOMOGENOUS OBJECTS OF
NON-UNIFORM THICKNESS.

SUPERIMPOSITION

TISUE DIFFERENCE SENSITIVITY

5%-10%

TOMOGRAPHY ( CONVENTIONAL)

ELIMINATES TISSUE SUPERIMPOSITION

INCREASES CONTRAST OF LOW
SUBJECT CONTRAST TISSUES

TOMOGRAPHY

TOMOGRAPHY

TOMOGRAPHY

CT ADVANTAGES

LIMITATIONS OF CT

UNABLE TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN

TISSUES WITH SLIGHT CONTRAST
DIFFERENCES < 1%.

GOALS OF CT

MINIMAL SUPERIMPOSITION
IMAGE CONTRAST IMPROVEMENT
SMALL TISSUE DIFFERENCE
RECORDING

CT DATA AQUISITION

SLIP RINGS

SEQUENTIAL-SLICE BY SLICE
SCANNING

SCANNING

TRANSMISSION

RELATIVE TRANSMISSION=Io/I

Total # of trans. measurements=

# of views X # of rays in each
view

ATTENUATION

DATA AQUSITION GEOMETRIES

CONTINUOUS
STATIONARY

CONTINUOUS

STATIONARY

CT 120-140 KVP

REDUCED DEPENDENCY ON
ATTENUATION COEFFICIENT
REDUCED CONTRAST
INCREASED PHOTON FLUX

ORIGINAL CLINICAL CT SCANS

COMPOSED OF

80 X 80 MATRIX

PIXELS

6400

ISOCENTER

SCAN FOV

SFOV

DETECTORS

SCAN FOV-SMALL

SFOV

DETECTORS

SFOV - HEAD

TOO SMALL OF SFOV OUT OF

FIELD ARTIFACT

SCAN FOV-RESOLUTION

SFOV

RECONSTRUCTION

RECONSTRUCTION

CT#

SCAN FOV-RESOLUTION

SFOV

DISPLAY FOV vs SCANNING FOV

DFOV CAN BE EQUAL OR LESS OF SFOV

SFOV AREA OF MEASUREMENT
DURING SCAN
DFOV - DISPLAYED IMAGE

PIXEL SIZE

PIXEL SIZE=

FOV (mm)/ MATRIX SIZE

MOST SCANNERS PIXEL SIZE

1 TO 10mm

EXAMPLE:

FOV= 40 CM= 40 X 10 MM=400 mm

MATRIX= 512 X 512 = 5122

400/512 = 0.78 mm
0.8 mm

EACH PIXEL IN CT HAS RANGE OF

GRAY SHADES

2 8 = 256 SHADES
2 12 = 4096 SHADES = -100 TO 3095
SHADES OF GRAY

PIXEL vs VOXEL

PIXEL

VOXEL

PIXEL SIZE DEPENDS ON:

MATRIX SIZE
FOV

VOXEL SIZE DEPENDS

FOV
MATRIX SIZE
SLICE THICKNESS

IMAGE DISPLAY

GRAY SCALE DISPLAY MONITOR

RESOLUTION IS RELATED TO
THE SIZE OF THE PIXEL MATRIX

64 X 64
128 X 128
256 X 256
512 X 512
1024 X 1024
2048 X 2048

(HIGH PERFORMANCE MONITORS)

MATRIX

PIXEL MATRIX

IN CT DIGITAL
RECONSTRUCTED IMAGE IS
CONVERTED IMAGE IS
CONVERTED INTO A GRAY
SCALE IMAGE.

DIGITAL

DAC
ANALOG

The high performance video display of the

microcomputer is connected to the system via
an interface board. The video display is a form
of cathode ray tube sometimes referred to as a
raster display. The term raster describes the
technique of producing the picture or text which
is formed by a beam of electrons that repeatedly
scans across the screen to form a uniform
pattern of closely spaced, horizontal lines (the
raster), covering the entire screen. The screen
consists of a phosphor that converts the energy
of the electron beam into visible light. A picture
is formed by "turning on and off" the electron
beam at appropriate points in the scanning of
the screen surface.

CRT OPERATION

IMAGE FORMATION ON THE MONITOR

IMAGE FORMATION ON THE MONITOR

CT NUMBER

LINEAR ATTENUATION
COEFFICIENT ( cm-1)

BONE
BLOOD
G. MATTER
W. MATTER
CSF
WATER
FAT
AIR

0.528
0.208
0.212
0.213
0.207
0.206
0.185
0.0004

CT # vs BRIGHTNESS LEVEL
+ 1000

-1000

CT #

1000

CT #

- 500

CT # OF CYST

CT # OF LIPOMA ( FATTY TUMOR)

-100

W 120
L 40

W 80
L 40

DATA FLOW IN CT
REFERENCE DETECTOR
REFERENCE DETECTOR

PREPROCESSOR

ADC

COMPUTER

RAW DATA

PROCESSORS
RECONSTRUCTED DATA

DISK

TAPE

BACK
PROJECTOR

CONVOLVED DATA

DAC

CRT DISPLAY

CT ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

EXCELLENT LOW CONTRAST RESOLUTION

WINDOWING- IMAGE MANIPULATION TAILORED TO
OBSERVER NEEDS
SPIRAL CT-SINGLE BREATH HOLD STUDIES
( CTA, MPR, VIRTUAL REALITY CT, CT ENDOSCOPY)
CT ASISST IN RADIATION THERAPY
BONE SCAN PACKAGE
XENON CT
PERFUCION CT
DIGITAL PROCESSING ABILITY