IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NUCLEAR SCIENCE, VOL. 52, NO.
1, FEBRUARY 2005
High-Resolution Images of Cone Beam Collimated
CT Scans
Gilad Shechter, Thomas Koehler, Ami Altman, and Roland Proksa
Abstract—We present a novel reconstruction algorithm for high-
transaxial-resolution cone-beam computed tomography (CT).
Two ideas are combined to achieve this: First, the ray-offset tech-
nique, which is well-known for two-dimensional reconstruction,
is adapted to the case of cone-beam CT. Instead of interleaving
parallel re-binned projections from opposite directions during
pre-processing before radial re-binning and filtering, the parallel
re-binned projections are interleaved with virtual projections,
which contain only zeros. These new projections are processed
further as usual. The actual combination of opposite measured
projections is moved into the back-projection step of the reconstruc-
tion. The second idea is the so-called frequency-split technique,
which is designed to minimize cone-beam artifacts. Observing that
cone beam artifacts contain mainly low-frequency components,
the reconstructed image is a combination of two independent re-
constructions with differently modified reconstruction filters and
different amounts of redundant data. A high-frequency image is
reconstructed with the ray offset technique using all the redundant
data, and a high-pass filter leading to a suppression of low-fre-
quency artifacts, while the low-frequency components of the image
are reconstructed by using little redundant data only. The pro-
posed technique is applied to the WEDGE algorithm and helical
acquisition.
Index Terms—Cone beam, helical computed tomography (CT),
image reconstruction.
I. INTRODUCTION
O NE OF THE MAIN advantages of cone beam computed
tomography (CBCT) scanners is their ability to cover a
large volume in a short period of time. Compared to a single
slice CT system, the time for data acquisition is reduced roughly
by the number of detector rows. On the other hand, the in-
creasing number of detector rows with small pixel height forces
the use of CB reconstruction algorithms in order to suppress ar-
tifacts originating from the cone angle of the rays [1]. CBCT
helical data are reconstructed today mostly by approximate al-
gorithms, e.g., Feldkamp-type [2], [3] or fan-to-parallel re-bin-
ning type [4] three-dimensional (3-D) back-projection (BP). It is
known that approximate reconstruction methods can deliver ex-
cellent image quality for helical scans in case of medium cone
angles and medium number of detector rows. These methods
can also handle redundant data, where a way to handle redun-
dant data within the framework of exact reconstruction methods
[5], [6] is limited today for discrete pitch values [7].
Manuscript received November 2, 2003; revised June 10, 2004.
G. Shechter and A. Altman are with Philips Medical Systems Technologies,
Haifa 31004, Israel (e-mail: gilad.shechter@philips.com).
T. Koehler and R. Proksa are with the Philips Research Laboratories Sector
Technical Systems, Hamburg 22335, Germany (e-mail: thomas.koehler@
philips.com).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TNS.2004.843110
0018-9499/$20.00 © 2005 IEEE
247
Approximate algorithms, and in particular the way they treat
redundant data are based on a two-dimensional (2-D) mathemat-
ical background [8]–[11]. Due to the cone angle of the beams,
the 2-D data set used for reconstructing the image by these al-
gorithms is not acquired in the same plane, and is therefore not
fully self-consistent in the 2-D sense. As a result, CB artifacts
can appear. Performing a truly 3-D BP helps to minimize the
level of these artifacts.
A preferable way for further reducing the level of these ar-
tifacts in a helical scan is to back-project to each voxel only
the views that belong to an angular range of about radians.
With some analogy to 2-D BP existing methods [10], [11] this
technique helps to improve the “2-D” self-consistency of the de-
tector data taken for reconstructing each voxel. For large beam
openings, processing a larger angular range of data can lead to
strong CB artifacts.
Reconstructing high-transaxial-resolution (HR) images along
the lines of the 2-D Radon method is obtained by using two
compatible techniques. The multiple source technique, i.e., a
modulation of the position of the focal spot, see [12], and the
well-known ray-offset technique. In the ray-offset technique,
logarithmic data of two opposing views are acquired in offset
with respect to each other, and therefore can be interleaved in a
way that increases the sampling rate along the view. This tech-
nique requires, however, the data contained in an angular range
of views of radians. A single-slice re-binning type helical
reconstruction algorithm that uses the ray-offset to improve the
transaxial resolution has already been developed [13]. However,
the possibility to reconstruct HR images keeping the low level
of CB artifacts obtained by a 3-D BP along an angular range of
radians has not yet been addressed. Addressing this possibility
in the present publication is done within the framework of the
so-called WEDGE method [14], [15] for helical CB reconstruc-
tion, which uses a fan-beam to parallel beam re-binning prior
to weighting, filtering and 3-D BP of the CB data. We assume
throughout this paper that the acquisition is performed using the
quarter ray-offset detector alignment.
The key topic this contribution is focusing on is how to re-
construct HR images without increasing the weak level of CB
artifacts obtained by a 3-D BP along an angular range of about
radians. We present our new approach for solving this problem,
by showing first how to fully integrate together the ray-offset
interleaving technique and the 3-D BP in a computational effi-
cient way. We then present a new scheme for reconstructing sep-
arately the low-transaxial frequency components and the high-
transaxial frequency components of the image. This split is mo-
tivated by the need to reconstruct HR images and to suppress
CB artifacts at the same time. We presented this technique at
248 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NUCLEAR SCIENCE, VOL. 52, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2005

the same time when a similar technique was presented indepen-

dently by Kudo et al. [16], [17]. The motivation for using this
technique by Kudo was to improve the dose utility by processing
all the redundant data, keeping a low level of CB artifacts at
the same time. In their work, the transaxial frequency split was
combined with a Feldkamp-type reconstruction algorithm that
avoids the fan-to-parallel re-binning of the WEDGE method.
This paper is organized as follows: Section II, describing our
new approach for reconstructing HR images is split up into
three parts. In Section II-A the helical 3-D BP reconstruction
method itself, on which our new approach is based, is described.
In Section II-B we present the way of integrating together the
ray-offset interleaving technique and the 3-D BP method. In
Section II-C we present the new scheme for reconstructing sep-
arately the low-frequency components and the high-frequency
components of the image. Results of simulated data are shown
in Section III. A discussion and suggestions for future work are
given in Section IV.

II. METHOD
A. 3-D-BP Reconstruction
The general approach of 3-D BP is given in [2]–[4]. Here,
we describe our method for using this approach for the source-
centered detector array geometry. Helical CB imaging using a
third generation CT system with a 2-D focus centered detector Fig. 1. Geometry of a detector data point. (a) Geometry of the fan-to-parallel
re-binning transformation. (b) intersection of the x-ray beam with the voxel and
array can be described by the geometric expressions given in the with the detector array projected toward the source.
following. The X-ray source moves on a helical path
and is its length. is the attenuation coefficient at the
(1) position of the particular object-point
(6)
Here, is the distance from the source to the rotation axis, In the first step of the reconstruction, the data of each detector
which coincides with the axis. describes the axis posi- row are re-binned, separately from the data of all other rows, into
tion of the acquisition system relative to the patient a parallel and equidistant raster in canonic axial coordinates. In
other words, using the transformation
(2)

Here, is the start position of the acquisition system, is (7)

the detector height projected onto the iso-center, and is the
pitch defined as the ratio between the bed movement during one the parallel re-binned projection data results as
rotation of the gantry and .
A focus-centered detector at a distance from the X-ray
source is described by the fan-angle and the height position (8)
The geometry of the fan-to-parallel re-binning is described in
(3) Fig. 1(a). In Fig. 1(b) we show the relations between , and
. Here, the detector array is projected toward the source. The
footprint of the projected array on the plane forms an arc
Here, and . CB
centered at the source that intersects the iso-center.
projections are acquired according to
Re-binning the discrete set of detector row data according
to (8) is performed in two steps. In the first step, we apply a
(4) fan-to-parallel re-binning by treating separately each detector
channel. For this fan-to-parallel re-binning we choose simple
linear interpolation with respect to . In the second step, the
where marks the unit vector in the direction parallel projection data are interpolated into an equidistant set.
For the equidistant re-binning we choose four-point interpola-
(5) tion with the motivation of reducing noise by damping lobes at
SHECHTER et al.: HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGES OF CONE BEAM COLLIMATED CT SCANS 249

Fig. 2. Geometry of the acquired cone shaped projections (a) and the re-binned parallel projections (b) The curved trajectory represents the helical path. Axes
coordinates are in mm.

high frequencies [18]. The explicit kernel used for this interpo- [3] methods. Some recent papers clarify that for 3-D BP recon-
lation is given in the Appendix B. struction algorithms choosing the filtering direction along the
Following (1)–(6), the detector data that emerge from the tangent of the helix leads to less CB artifacts [23], [24]. Near the
same source position form a cone-shaped projection; see iso-center, this filtering direction coincides with the direction of
Fig. 2(a). Note that the -position of the re-binned projection the filtering we apply in the frame of the WEDGE method.
is not only depending on but also on . The shape of the In the final step, the attenuation coefficient of the voxel, ,
projection re-binned according to (7)–(8) is shown in Fig. 2(b). is determined by “3-D” back-projecting
The reconstruction steps to be performed consist of a cosine in accordance with the relationship
type weighting, a one-dimensional (1-D) filtering and 3-D BP.
The cosine weighting function after parallel re-binning is the
cosine of the cone angle of each individual detector element (12)
given by
Here, is the illumination weighting profile for the
(9) voxel . The point on the re-binned detector where the ray from
the extended source through the voxel intersects the
detector is given by and . This position is calcu-
The weighted projection data are given below lated as follows:
(10) (13)
The parallel data of each detector row are then convolved with
(14)
a 1-D “Jacobian” kernel, offering a control on the modulation
transfer function of the reconstruction. This high-pass filter is
Here, is the length of the line obtained after projecting
defined as a band limited ramp filter (see e.g., [19], [20]) and is
the line that connects between the source point and the
applied to the weighted projections
voxel into the transaxial plane

(11)
The 1-D filtering is performed along the detector rows and de-
pends only on the coordinate . Due to the source-centered
detector geometry this filtering is performed along lines fully
parallel to each other in the 3-D sense, as pointed out by Tuy
[14]. Investigating other filtering directions, we reconstructed
the forbild thorax phantom (as given in www.imp.uni-erlangen.
de/forbild) using acquisition geometry of 128 0.75 mm and
pitch 1.4. We found [21] that after the fan-to-parallel re-binning,
performing the filtering along the focus centered detector rows
like in (11) leads to less CB artifacts in comparison to filtering
along the directions proposed by the n-PI [22] or the PI-slant
(15)
Choosing the way of interpolating along the di-
rection responsive to the voxel position , we control the effec-
tive reconstructed slice width. The details of this interpolation
are given in the Appendix A.
The term in (12) represents the first (last)
parallel projection that illuminates the voxel, respectively. For
voxels at the iso-center, the angular range of this set equals to
, where is the pitch. An analytical expression for the
voxel dependent illumination window width cannot be derived.
In the present work, a numerical solution to this problem is
chosen [25], [26]. Basically, the windows borders are depen-
dent on the pitch. The angular range given by the illumination
250
Fig. 3. Interleaving of parallel projection detector data. Filled circles in
(c) represent the original detector data. Empty circles represent the readings of
zeros inserted.
window describes the amount of redundant data available for
each voxel in the reconstruction volume. It is obvious that this
redundancy can only be defined in the sense of the 2-D data
acquisition, since the rays intersecting the voxel may have a
different cone angle.
According to our new approach, HR images are obtained
by reconstructing separately the low-frequency components
and the high-frequency components of the image. Within this
approach, different illumination weighting functions are used
for reconstructing the low-frequency image and the high-fre-
quency image. The explicit form of these functions is given in
Section II-C.
B. Ray Offset Technique for 3-D BP
Combining the ray-offset technique with a 3-D BP requires
interleaving data of voxel-dependent detector rows of two op-
posing parallel projections. Due to the plurality of detector rows
in a CBCT, it is necessary to find a solution for this interleaving
that avoids a massive computational effort. Such a solution is
presented in Fig. 3. In 3(a) we project the detector data of one
parallel projection into the transaxial plane. Along the lines of
the ray-offset technique, these detector data should be inter-
leaved with the detector data of the opposite parallel projec-
tion 3(b) and then be interpolated into an equidistant raster ex-
pressed by the vertical dotted lines before being convolved and
back-projected to the image. Interleaving the detector data of
the opposing parallel projections is equivalent to inserting in
between the original detector data of each projection zero read-
ings that match the position of the opposite projection detector
data, followed by adding the two up-sampled projections see
3(c). Interpolating the raster obtained by adding the two up-sam-
pled projections into an equidistant raster, filtering and BP in-
terpolations responsive to the voxel coordinates are all linear
operations. Therefore, we do not have to add the two opposing
up-sampled projections before performing these three opera-
tions. Instead, up-sampling the projections with zeros in the way
described in 3(c) allows us to apply these operations separately
on each of the parallel projections.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NUCLEAR SCIENCE, VOL. 52, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2005
C. Reconstructing Separately a Low-Frequency and a
High-Frequency Image
Reconstructing high-transaxial-resolution images using the
ray-offset interleaving technique described above requires
back-projecting each voxel along at least radians. In order
to avoid an increased level of CB artifacts by using this
wide angular range, we observe that these artifacts contain
mainly low-frequency components in transaxial images. As
a result, we obtain the image as a combination of two im-
ages reconstructed independently. The first image preserves
the low-transaxial frequencies of the object. This image is re-
constructed by back projecting to each of the voxels an angular
range of projections of about radians only in order not to
increase the level of CB artifacts. The second image preserves
the high-transaxial frequencies of the object. This image is
reconstructed by using the ray-offset interleaving technique
where an angular range of projections of at least radians
is back projected to each of the voxels. This scheme is sum-
marized in Fig. 4. Splitting the reconstruction of the low- and
the high-transaxial frequencies according to this scheme leads
to a suppression of CB artifacts that is similar to that obtained
by the high-pass filtering of oblique projections suggested for
positron emission tomography [27].
The underlying assumption in our approach is that the
CB artifacts contain mainly low-frequency components in
transaxial images. We explain this assumption as follows.
According to the 3-D Fourier slice theorem, redundancy is
related to multiple intersections of the helix and not with line
integrals but with Radon planes. An exact reconstruction is
obtained after weighting the contributions of all radon planes
by taking this redundancy properly into account. As a matter of
fact, not all Radon planes are intersected multiple times for a
low-pitch helical scan. In particular, some Radon planes have
only one intersection point with the helix. These planes are also
almost perpendicular to the rotation axis and therefore contain
predominantly information about spatial frequencies along the
axis. For these reasons it is reasonable to assume that the
CB artifacts obtained by approximate 3-D BP methods such
as the WEDGE are originating from a nonaccurate weighting
of the contributions of these Radon planes. Since these Radon
planes contain only low-frequency information in transaxial
planes, it is understood why the CB artifacts contain mainly
low-transaxial frequencies.
As depicted in Fig. 5, the low-pass filter and high-pass
filter used for reconstructing the low-frequency image and
the high-frequency image, respectively, are smooth. These two
filters must sum up together mathematically to the desired
reconstruction filter. This requirement is fulfilled by performing
the convolutions for the low-frequency image and the high-
frequency image on the same equidistant raster along the radial
direction.
The cutoff frequency of the high-pass filter in 5(c) equals to
the equivalent filter used for reconstruction in 5(a). The cutoff
frequency of the low-pass filter in 5(b) is chosen along the fol-
lowing guidelines. First, it must be lower than the Nyquist fre-
quency defined by the sampling rate before interleaving the de-
SHECHTER et al.: HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGES OF CONE BEAM COLLIMATED CT SCANS 251

Fig. 4. Flow chart for reconstructing separately a high-frequency image and a low-frequency image.

Fig. 5. Convolution filters used to generate the low-frequency and the high-frequency images. (a) the equivalent filter for the reconstruction. (b) the filter used to
reconstruct the low-frequency image. (c) the filter used to reconstruct the high-frequency image. N
. is the Nyquist frequency defined by the sampling rate before
interleaving the readings of two opposite projections.

TABLE I
GEOMETRY OF THE SCAN SIMULATED

tector data of two opposing projections. Second, it must be high
enough to suppress the contribution of the redundant data to CB
artifacts. For the acquisition geometry described in Table I, we
can fulfill these two requirements by choosing for an example
a cutoff frequency of about 12 lp/cm. However, observing no
increase in the level of CB artifacts, we used a lower cutoff fre-
quency of 5 lp/cm. This way, we improved the dose utility by
processing more redundant data.
We now show the explicit forms of the illumination weighting
functions used for reconstructing the low-frequency image and
the high-frequency image. Equation (16), shown at the bottom
of the page, gives the illumination weighting for the low-fre-
quency image
Here, and is the over-scan
angle taken to be . The purpose of using a finite over-scan
angle is to keep good continuity of data at end points.

(16)
252 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NUCLEAR SCIENCE, VOL. 52, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2005

The low-frequency weighting function given above slice. This complexity is smaller than that required for the BP
is subjected to the following self-normalization process over all for a slice, which is of the order of . Therefore, we neglect
-partners: the computation effort required for these steps and compare the
number of projections processed during the BP of the two sepa-
(17) rate images. Reconstructing the high-frequency components of
the image using all the redundant data requires processing an
angular range of projections of about radians where
The normalized weights are used to reconstruct is the pitch. Here, we neglected by an approximation the fi-
the low-frequency image using (12). They satisfy the following nite size of the reconstruction field of view. Reconstructing the
normalization condition: low-frequency components of the image requires processing an
angular range of about half a rotation, i.e., radians. Therefore,
(18)
reconstructing separately the low-frequency image requires an
increase of the reconstruction computational effort by a factor
For the high-frequency image we use the following illumina- of . For the low-pitch values selected for generating HR
tion weighting: images, this factor is close to unity.

(19)
The trapezoidal shape of this function is replaced by a trian-
gular shape of a width for
. in patterns corresponding to transaxial frequencies of 10–20
The high-frequency weighting function given
above is subjected to the following self-normalization process
over all -partners:
(20)
The weights are used to reconstruct the high-fre-
quency image at using (12). They satisfy the following nor-
malization condition:
(21)
Equation (21) enforces the overall boundary condition, that
for each voxel in the reconstructed volume, projection data of
an angular range of must be available, in order to apply the
ray-offset interleaving technique. Different forms for
and than those derived in (16) to (19) are also permis-
sible as long as the following rule is fulfilled. The illumination
weighting function tailored for the image reconstructed with or
without using the ray-offset technique must satisfy (21) or (18),
respectively.
Let us consider now the additional computational effort re-
quired for reconstructing separately the low-frequency image
for reducing the level of CB artifacts.
We assume that we want to reconstruct an image of size
, where is the number of slices and is the image
dimension perpendicular to the rotation axis. Typically, in the
order of projections are back-projected into each slice, and
typically, the number of detector columns is also in the order
of .
The computational complexity of the re-binning and convo-
lution steps together is of the order of for each
III. RESULTS
The proposed method for reconstructing HR images was
tested on simulated noisy data of different phantoms and cone
angles. Here we present the results obtained for the forbild head
phantom. In order to measure the high-contrast resolution in a
wider range of frequencies, the original objects designed for
resolution measurement were replaced by a series of ellipsoids
elongated for 4 mm along the axis of rotation around ,
LP/cm, see 9:00 position in Fig. 7(a). Details of scanner geom-
etry and scan parameters for the simulation of this phantom are
summarized in Table I. Projection data were simulated analyt-
ically on a focus centered detector. The detector true physical
pixel size was 0.704 mm 1.14 mm with a pixel active area
of 0.6 mm 1.055 mm. For this configuration, HR images
were obtained without using the multiple source technique
[12]. The source active area was 0.6 mm 1 mm. For the
noise simulation, we assumed a number of photons
emerging during every reading from the source toward each
detector. Tailoring properly the BP interpolations responsive to
the voxel coordinates, all images displayed were reconstructed
with a slice sensitivity profile (SSP) full width half maximum
(FWHM) of 1.25 mm, see Appendix A.
Fig. 6 shows axial images reconstructed with a pixel size
of 0.244 mm. The images in 6(a) and (b) were reconstructed
without using the ray offset technique and a low-pass filter that
falls rapidly near the Nyquist limit. For the scan parameters se-
lected, the Nyquist frequency determined by the sampling rate
of the parallel projections along the radial direction without
using the ray-offset technique is 12.95 LP/cm. The image dis-
played in Fig. 6(a) was reconstructed by processing all the pro-
jections that belong to the central illumination window of each
voxel during the BP. For this purpose, we used the illumination
weighting function obtained after replacing the terms of con-
tained in (19) by , and performing on the result the self-normal-
ization of (17). The dark and white glows beneath and above the
inner ear are CB artifacts. These artifacts stem from the incor-
rect handling of the redundant data. Limiting the angular range
of projections processed in the BP to radians eliminates
these artifacts see 6(b). The CB artifacts visible in 6(a) differ
from the “windmill” artifacts [1], [28], [29] that originate from
the limited sampling rate along the rotation axis. Since the SSP
SHECHTER et al.: HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGES OF CONE BEAM COLLIMATED CT SCANS
Fig. 6. Axial images reconstructed at z = 4:5 mm using window center and
window width of 50 HU. (a) standard resolution reconstruction using all data,
(b) standard resolution reconstruction using only 10=9 of data for each voxel,
(c) high-resolution reconstruction using the proposed ray-offset technique,
(d) high-resolution reconstruction using the proposed ray-offset technique and
the frequency split.
FWHM is larger than the collimated slice width by a factor of
two, the windmill artifacts are strongly suppressed.
For the given pitch and reconstruction field of view, the an-
gular range of projections that belong to the central illumination
window of each voxel is larger than the minimal range of ra-
dians required by the ray-offset technique. The images displayed
in 6(c) and in 6(d) were reconstructed after doubling the Nyquist
limit by using this technique. For reconstructing these images,
we multiplied the ramp filter that extends to the new Nyquist
limit by a low-pass filter that falls rapidly near a frequency of 20
LP/cm. The CB artifacts in 6(c) result from the extended use of
redundant data described by the illumination weighting function
derived in (19), (20). The CB artifacts were removed in 6(d)
by splitting the reconstruction to a low-frequency image and
a high-frequency image. While the high-frequency image was
reconstructed by using the illumination weighting function used
in 6(c), the low-frequency image was reconstructed by using
the illumination weighting function derived by (16), (17).
As clearly seen by comparing 6(a) and (b) with 6(c) and (d),
increasing the transaxial resolution cutoff by extending the limit
of the low-pass filter increases the image noise level. For noise
measurements we used the square region of interest of 480 mm
depicted in 6(d). The pixel noise standard deviation measured
in 6(a) and (b) as 10.9 HU and 16.8 HU, respectively, is in-
creased to 25.3 HU in 6(c) and (d). As a result, the low-con-
trast resolution is reduced. However, the transaxial spatial res-
olution offered by using the ray-offset technique is much su-
perior as demonstrated clearly in Fig. 7(b)–(d) show ellipsoid
patterns with periodicities of 10–17 LP/cm with a reconstructed
253
Fig. 7. High-contrast ellipsoids of 800 HU with periodicities of 10–17 LP/cm
reconstructed at z = 0. Image (a) depicts the position of the high-contrast
ellipsoids in the phantom. In (b)–(d) we use a window center of 230 HU and
a window width of 300 HU. The background of 50 HU falls out of this window.
The axes labels are in mm.
pixel size of 0.099 mm. The reconstruction modes used for gen-
erating these images are those used for the images in 6(b)–(d),
respectively. While the resolution in 7(b) is limited to about 12
LP/cm, reconstructing in the high-resolution mode gives a clear
view of the ellipsoid pattern having the periodicity of 17 LP/cm.
Comparing 7(c) and (d) proves that reconstructing the low fre-
quency Fourier components of the image separately using a BP
along an angular range of radians as done for 7(d) has no
influence on the transaxial resolution. However, this technique
helps to suppress CB artifacts.
We now consider the possible influence of using the fre-
quency split technique on the spatial resolution along the axis of
rotation, i.e., along . As shown in [1], using 3-D BP algorithms
like the n-PI, or the PI-SLANT [4], the SSP along is almost
not sensitive to the angular range processed. Instead it is deter-
mined according to the kernel used for the BP interpolations
along , see Appendix A. To support this statement, we show
in Fig. 8 coronal images of ellipsoid patterns.
Using the same acquisition geometry as before, we now ro-
tate the ellipsoids by 90 along the direction to let them elon-
gate along the axis. We also omit now the photon noise from
the simulated detector data. Not using the frequency split tech-
nique or the ray-offset interleaving during the reconstruction,
the transaxial frequency cutoff of the two coronal images is now
12.95 lp/cm. We reconstruct the two images using simple linear
BP interpolations along with the intention to obtain a FWHM
SSP of about 0.78 mm, see Table A1. The image displayed in
Fig. 8(a) was reconstructed by processing all the projections
during the BP like in 6(a). In 8(b) we limited the angular range
254
Fig. 8. Coronal images of ellipsoids elongated along the y axis. The pattern
periodicities vary between 6–12 LP/cm. In (a) used all the projections while in
(b) we limited the angular range of projections processed in the BP to 10=9 1 
radians. Window center/width is 230=50 HU. The axes labels are in mm.
TABLE A1
BP Z-INTERPOLATION COEFFICIENTS FOR A SSP FWHM OF 1.25 MM
of projections processed in the BP to radians like in
6(b). According to Fig. 8 and in agreement with [1], limiting the
angular range of projections processed does not degrade, or im-
prove, much the axial resolution. We also did not observe any
change in the axial resolution caused by using the frequency
split method.
IV. DISCUSSION
We presented a practical method for reconstructing HR
images of CBCT scanners. This method adapts the ray-offset
interleaving technique to the framework of the approximate
WEDGE method. Within this framework, the ray-offset tech-
nique requires processing the data contained in an angular range
of parallel projections of at least radians during the BP.
Nevertheless, we found a solution that exploits this technique
keeping the weak level of CB artifacts obtained by a 3-D BP
along an angular range of radians. According to our solution,
the reconstructed image is a combination of two independent
reconstructions with differently modified reconstruction filters
and different amounts of redundant data processed during the
BP. The image with all the redundant data is reconstructed with
a high-pass filter leading to a suppression of low-frequency
artifacts, while the low-frequency components of the image are
reconstructed by using little redundant data only.
The reason for choosing to work with the WEDGE method
in this paper is the simple adaptation of the ray-offset technique
to the 3-D BP offered after the fan-to-parallel re-binning step.
According to the 2-D Radon slice theorem the interpolations
performed in this step introduce aliasing errors that can con-
taminate the high frequencies and therefore reduce in principle
the transaxial resolution. However, for the head forbild phantom
measurements we find that the degradation in the transaxial res-
olution due to the fan-to-parallel interpolations is negligible. Re-
peating the simulations after doubling the number of fans per
rotation to 2320 show no visible improvement in the transaxial
resolution. Furthermore, in most of the scan modes in present
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NUCLEAR SCIENCE, VOL. 52, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2005
industrial scanners the width of the active area of the physical
detector pixels is about 0.9 mm and above. As a result, the effect
of the fan-to-parallel interpolations is expected to remain neg-
ligible with respect to the blurring of the beam profile also for
clinical scans. From a theoretical point of view, it may be still
interesting to compare the use of the WEDGE method with an
approach based on combining a Feldkamp type algorithm, i.e.,
with no fan-to-parallel re-binning, with the ray-offset technique.
Keeping the weak level of CB artifacts obtained by a 3-D
BP along an angular range of about radians leads to the fol-
lowing important outcome of using our approach. The level of
CB artifacts in large-coverage CT is expected to increase with
the stretch of the helical trajectory, i.e., with the bed travel in
mm per one helical turn instead of with the beam opening. Based
on other simulations we made that include re-projecting clinical
data into new acquisition geometries we believe that the combi-
nation of WEDGE, ray-offset, and the frequency split will pro-
vide an acceptable level of artifacts also for bed travels of up to
about 80 mm per turn. A demonstration of this prediction ex-
ceeds the scope of the present contribution.
While CB artifacts contain mainly low-frequency compo-
nents in transaxial images, the high-frequency components
give the dominant contribution to the image noise. Therefore,
processing only the high-frequency components using all
the redundant data reduces effectively the image noise. In
other words, for a fixed level of transaxial spatial resolution,
splitting the reconstruction in the way described in this paper
without using necessarily the ray-offset technique offers also
the possibility to improve the low-contrast resolution and to
suppress the CB artifacts at the same time. This possibility was
demonstrated by Kudo et al. [16].
The present contribution treated helical CBCT scans. Recon-
structing circular scans by 3-D BP algorithms involves tailoring
of illumination weighting functions that affect the noise level
and the level of CB artifacts [30]. Splitting the reconstruction
to that of a low-frequency image, and to that of a high-fre-
quency image, is expected to improve the high-contrast and the
low-contrast resolution of images reconstructed from circular
scans, keeping a low level of CB artifacts.
APPENDIX
A CONTROL OF THE SLICE SENSITIVITY PROFILE AND
INTERPOLATION FOR THE EQUIDISTANT RE-BINNING
A. Control of the Slice Sensitivity Profile
Using the 3-D BP algorithm described in Section II-A, the
SSP of the reconstructed images is obtained as the result of the
convolution of the beam profile with the kernel used during the
BP for interpolating along the direction responsive
to the voxel position. Here, we describe the kernel we use for
this interpolation.
Before interpolating the projection data along the direction,
we interpolate this data along the direction responsive to
the coordinate . This way, we obtain a set of projec-
tion data that intersect the voxel in the 2-D sense, i.e., after
projecting these data and the voxel into the transaxial plane.
We use a simple linear interpolation for this purpose. Let
stand for this set of projection data interpo-
lated along . This set has a fan geometry in the plan normal
SHECHTER et al.: HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGES OF CONE BEAM COLLIMATED CT SCANS 255

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